by Ashley Bronander
Before we begin, I just want it noted that I know I am a horrible updater. I apologize! Okay. That’s out of the way, now I need to figure out where to start. Also, warning: this is going to be very random and probably seem out of order. I’m just letting myself type all that’s on my mind and my mind doesn’t work in order sometimes.
As you might have heard, one of our fundraisers was a puzzle. Aaron and I decided on how we’d like the puzzle to look, ordered the puzzle, and started putting it together. I like doing puzzles but realized after putting the edges together that the puzzle was two colors. Brown and black. Not a smart choice when it’s a 1,000 piece puzzle! Anyway, we set it up on our dining room table and worked on it here and there. When Easter rolled around, we had lunch at our place. I had bought a puzzle wrap where you can put what you’ve worked on on the fabric part and roll it up. Let me just save ya’ll $10.00 and tell you: it does NOT WORK. Do not waste your money. So I moved the puzzle into our office/workout room for the day and forgot to move it back to the table afterwards. A few days later, we realized that Smokey (our adorable, cute, and curious dog) ate some puzzle pieces. Our dog. Ate. The Puzzle pieces. Back to square one. We designed a NEW puzzle that looks similar but will hopefully be easier to put together. And by the way, I didn’t put Smokey up to eating parts of the puzzle but I really wasn’t too disappointed when it happened – I honestly like the new puzzle better!
At church (or anywhere), when someone would hand us a donation in person, I’d enter it on my phone to keep track of what names go on the puzzle. Well, we had a phone upgrade and I completely forgot out the list of names until my phone was wiped. Of course. I think I remember everyone that gave us money and I’ve created a new list, but if you’d like to just mention it to me that you should be on the puzzle, I will confirm it. (I promise, we ARE responsible adults!!)
Can I please talk about our church for a minute? I honestly don’t know where we would be without the people there. Our church is such an important part of our lives. We went there while we were dating. Aaron proposed to me at church, and that church is where we were married. That church is also where we will raise our child(ren). Every single person, even if I don’t know them, is playing such a huge role in our life right now.
Every year on Mother’s Day, all the mothers stand up and the kids pass out a Carnation flower. I had mentioned to Aaron that morning that it seems I always end up with a flower, even when I don’t stand up. That Sunday, I sat in the back with Aaron since he runs the sound system. Up comes a child with a flower and hands it to me. After whispering to her that I’m not a mom and I’m not standing up, she hands the the flower and a card. The card was from our Children’s Minister. It had the absolute sweetest note in it and it made me ugly cry. I carry the card with me everywhere. When I get overwhelmed and frustrated with this whole process, I read it (and cry, but not ugly cry) and it is such an encouragement.There are a lot of reasons why I’m excited to have a baby. One big reason is I’m excited for our child to be active in our church. I look at Caitlin (the Children’s Minister) and all of the wonderful children’s teachers there and I just can’t wait for my child to be a part of that.
I feel like everything we’re doing right now is done with intention. Looking around the house and thinking about baby proofing. Decluttering rooms. Exercising and eating healthy. Purchases. Waiting. Saving money. Things that we just did before and didn’t think anything of it, we’re now thinking about how things we do affect us now and in the future. It is really exciting! I feel like things are happening even when nothing is happening. God is moving and we can’t see it, but we sure can feel it. I don’t know if I’m making sense. I feel like this is the quiet before a good storm. We are not sure what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. I know the process will be grueling and potentially heartbreaking but God is directing our path and we can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Another blessing is Aaron just received a promotion at work. This will help us a lot in saving for a baby! We will be able to dump quite a bit in our Adoption Fund every payday, so we’re very excited for that. I’m so thankful for Aaron and what a hard worker he is. He’s going to be amazing at his new role. We’re thinking of new and exciting fundraisers. If you have any ideas, please share them. I’ve scoured Pinterest for ideas such as t-shirts, jewelry, and spaghetti dinners, but I’d love to hear feedback from you! We’ll definitely keep upcoming fundraisers updated on Facebook and the blog. As always, you can click our YouCaring link to donate if you feel led!
If you’ve made it to the end of this update, THANK YOU! I will try to be better about updating, but I think I said that last time I updated. I’m very excited about being able to update when we’re able to go through the adoption process instead of just saving for it. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. You are such a huge blessing to us, and we are so thankful for you!
Adding a Bronander 
I’d love to be on a puzzle piece, I came to your garage sale 😊
Sent from my iPhone
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