A Moment of Randomness...

A few random things about me...

Fall is my absolute, most favorite time of the year...simply because my favorite outfit is a sweatshirt or hoodie, with shorts and flip flops.

I can predict what is going to happen in almost all Lifetime movies, and be 100% correct.

I love to buy things for my house, but they then end up in one of the spare bedrooms for months until I figure out what to do with them. For example, I have a clock that I begged for at Christmas of 2010. Ended up getting the clock, and it still is not hung up anywhere, simply because I can't decide where to put it.

I want to be a person who loves to read. I have attempted this several times, but the only books I like to read thus far are the bible and the twilight saga...oh, and I guess Charlotte's Web when I was a kid....I had the whole first chapter memorized at one point.

I am totally a scaredy-cat.....of heights, SPIDERS, the dark, certain areas of town at night (some during the day!), the back of my trailblazer at night (someone could be hiding in there, lol), attic spaces, basements, shower drains (the boogey monster could come up through there), and the list goes on and on....

I love my dog as if she was my child. I know some people think this is crazy, but I don't know what I would do if something happened to her. She is perfect for me...and is also a scaredy-cat as well.

I am very competitive and I love playing games...specifically monopoly, spades, gin rummy, Seinfeld trivia, nertz (only with my sis *Calie Taylor* as my partner), and really any card game.

I have a knack for speaking with sales people or customer service people on the phone. I am often asked to call for people and pretend to be them so their problem will get taken care of, and usually get something for free!!

I love to eat out, and could possibly do it for every meal if it was affordable. With that being said, I do not love to cook, lol, and I would never do it if I didn't have to.

I love to people watch....my sister and I used to sit and pretend we were people we were watching and make up conversation they would be saying...fun times.

Whenever I eat tic-tacs, I have to have an even number of them in my mouth....why? you ask...well, because when is it ever right to be odd??

I like to smell things....erasers (*Heather Ohl* is right there with me, lol!), plastic blow up things for the pool in the summer, sharpies or really any kind of marker (especially the grape scented ones...), newspapers, gasoline, bleach....and it's not like I go around sniffing these things all the time, I just like the smell of them.

I absolutely do not handle being bored well.

I like to pour juice into a cup, freeze it, and then eat it with a spoon later. Or, even better, freezing a capri sun drink...that is fabulous!!

I am a sucker for tv shows that are centered around high school or college kids...probably because I would go back to that time in a heartbeat. I would even move back into the dorms, as long as all my friends were there too!

I used to be a major germaphobe....there was one period of my life where my bare feet didn't touch the ground, even in my own house, for a very long time. Of course, I am now over this, and work in a hospital....germ city!!

I could watch movies from the 80's over and over.

I love road trips. I could drive anywhere, at anytime, on any amount of sleep. Preferably at night, with the radio blaring songs that remind me of being on a highway at night...funny, I know.

I would love to be the person that gets to pick out the music that plays in the background during television shows.

I am a wife, daughter, sister, friend, charge nurse, babysitter, dishwasher, house cleaner, defensive driver, prayer warrior, helper, organizer, confidant, and so much more....

I am Mary Margaret Martin.

A Walk To Remember...

Goodmorning! Ever since the other day when I watched "A Walk To Remember", the title to the movie has been turning circles in my brain. Of course we all know what the movie is about, but I got to thinking about my life and the different walks that I have taken or the walks that I plan to take in the future. This put a little bit of a different spin on things for me. I want to have walks and take walks in life that are worth remembering, not forgetting...

First and foremost, when thinking of these "walks", my walk with God is brought to mind. Someday I will be gone. I want to lead a life that abundantly shows that my walk with God was most important in my life. More important than my family, my friends, my "anything" basically. I believe that if this walk in my life is first, then the other walks that I embark on will go much smoother. Something I pray that I am always reminded of day after day is that this is not something that just affects me. This is something that has the ability and the power to influence multiple others. I think that it is easy to get caught up in life and be focused on you, you, you. Whether this be building your family (my current attention getter!), or focusing on career, or becoming more healthy, or really anything....the list goes on and on. I wonder how much different my days would be if I woke up with a conscious thought of others, others, others instead? There are people in my life that have come and gone, whether it be by death or distance, that I can say that their walk with God positively influenced my life, and for that I am "eternally" grateful.

My second "walk" that I want people to remember in a good light is my walk with my husband. I want so much to be a bright example of this for my kids!! I think that Cory and I work very hard at this already. Sometimes I wonder if this is the reason we don't have any kiddos yet....like maybe God has more that he wants us to learn so that in the future we will be able to set better examples of what a marriage should look like. Cory and I actually started "working" on this before we were even married. We decided that we would make it part of out pre-marital counseling to meet with different couples, all of which were at different stages in their marriage. Some had been married six months, some way, way, longer. At the time, I thought this was extremely silly (it was Cory's idea...), but now that I can look back and see how there were times, and still are times, that we use things we learned from those couples to help us in certain situations, I am glad and relieved that we did it. Of the couples that have taught us things, my in-laws are by far the best example of what a marriage should look like. I am extremely humbled by their example and am forever thankful for such a resource in them when it comes to marriage.

My third walk would be a walk I haven't had the privilege of taking yet. This would be the one I am going to take with my kids, my walk as being a parent. I am looking forward to this. I know that I have tons to learn and that everyday will be an opportunity for growth.

Yes I know this is my blog and supposed to be about me....but I encourage you to take a look at your "walks"....Are they something that you want to be remembered or forgotten?

Adoption Update: Cory and I are currently deciding between two agencies. We also have our first class / meeting this Saturday...I can't wait!!!

Birthdays....

Today is my birthday. I always love celebrating birthdays. Not just mine, but other people's as well. I don't know why this is..... but it possibly might have something to do with me getting and giving gifts. Gifts are definitely my "love language"...my husband could testify to that. It has always been a little strange to me when I hear people say that they don't want to celebrate their birthday with a party, or even that they don't want any gifts. Yes, I understand that everyone is different. It is just a concept I don't seem to grasp. I would say that I love to give gifts just as much as I love to receive them. I also love to see people's reactions to gifts that I get them. For instance, at Christmas time, I hate when everyone wants to open gifts all at the same time. You can't see the looks on everyone's faces all at the same time..... I have different roads that I can go down when it comes to getting someone a gift. I could go for practical and safe, which is getting someone something that I know that they could use or need, and that they have actually told me that they want. Or I sometimes branch out and go for risky and rewarding. These are the gifts that people don't know that they want until they see them. I love getting gifts like this!! Gifts like these prove that the person cares about you and that they have actually thought about you.

We actually celebrated my birthday yesterday on the 7th. Last week when talking about what we would do for my birthday, I decided that we wouldn't do anything big this year. Maybe just have a little get-together with a few friends, and possibly have dinner and play some games (we are big game players!!). It actually turned out that almost all of my close friends were able to attend, which made it bigger than originally planned, but exactly what I would have wanted. We hung out for the afternoon, and then when dinner time came we ordered Los Cabos fajitas. Then after that came the gifts....my favorite part!!!

This year I got a DVD from a friend that had a collaboration of all of the pics from this past year. It was pretty awesome.... I got three new games, one of which we played at the party (Tele-strations...fantastic group game, I totally recommend it), and the other were classic games of Monopoly and Life. What made these cool were that they are the ones that look like books that can easily be stored on a book shelf out in the open without looking tacky. Also on the gift list was an exercise ball, a cookie cake from the great american cookie company (the only acceptable place to get cookie cakes in my opinion...), jewelry from James Avery, awesome hand-crafted artwork for my bedroom / master bath, and cash..... Where is the Coach purse, you ask??? Nope, not this year.... I have accepted the fact that until the money for our adoption is secured that I probably won't be getting one, or really maybe never again, and I am okay with that. I know that I come across sometimes as being addicted to purses, but really I can live without them (or at least I think I can, lol?)

After that we played a different game called Quelf. This was my first time playing this, and it definitely won't be my last!!! This was hilarious...I wish I could post the pics and videos that I took but I want these people to continue to be my friends so I won't. It is the best game I've played in a while, perfect for large groups or small.

Birthdays to me are just another way to celebrate life with family and friends. Yes, me getting gifts made my day in a huge way. The gifts themselves will carry along with them memories that can never be taken away. But it wouldn't have been the same if everyone would have just dropped them off at the door and said "See Ya!"..... My friends and family took what would have been just a regular day and turned it into something special for me. I am EXTREMELY grateful for them!!!! On a funnier note, WE WILL BE EATING LEFT-OVER FAJITAS FOR DAYS.....

He Makes All Things New...

I am excited to be blogging. For the time being, please excuse the weird, crappy background... I am of course new to this and have no idea how to design it yet. But I promise I will learn. I always tend to have quite a bit to say so here we go...

As this past December was moving along, I kept praying that God would make a change in my life and my family in a big way. In the past this has always been for me to get pregnant. My husband and I have not been too successful at that thus far. Having had one miscarriage this past June is the farthest we have came. Or really I guess I shouldn't say that. I know that God has a plan for all that I have been through with all the doctor appointments, ovulation strips, and negative pregnancy tests... This past month I started praying a different prayer. Just that God would make a change in my life and in my family. Period. I decided to leave off the getting pregnant, which was very hard for me to pray. I soon realized that as I prayed that prayer day after day, it became easier....

And then it happened. God made a change in my life and in my family in a huge way. Cory and I always thought we would adopt. I was just COMPLETELY against doing it now. I guess in a way I felt it was me giving up on having my own kiddo. But then God changed my heart COMPLETELY. I woke up really early one morning with nothing but adoption on my mind and heart. I felt that God was speaking to me, like He never had before. And that without a doubt we would be adopting....sooner than later....

I now know that there is a little girl in Russia waiting for her mommy to come and pick her up. I pray for her throughout my day. I think about what she is doing....I don't even know if she is born yet, actually. I can't wait to hold her and love on her....and sing to her the songs that my mom used to sing to me. I can't wait to see Cory with her. I have been beyond blessed by him being my husband and I can't imagine what a little girl would do to his heart strings!!! I feel that I was too caught up in all the selfish things of having a child to be open to considering adoption at this time in my life. You see, I work in the Newborn Nursery as a baby nurse. I help moms every day with their new little ones. And I think that it is completely normal for me to want to experience those things....but at the same time, I think I needed to recognize that all of that is not what having a child is about. Or at least it is not what it is ONLY about. I can't wait to see my little girl grow up and be a strong woman of God, and that doesn't matter if I give birth to her or not.

My family experienced loss in 2011. My sister passed away in April. And as if that wasn't enough, I had the miscarriage in June. I am looking forward to 2012. I am looking forward to the LIFE that will be created, whether it be a tiny little one growing on the inside, or the tiny little one growing on the other side of the world....and more importantly, growing in my heart. He makes all things new.....He can make the hearts of an entire family WHOLE that at one time were broken from loss and confusion. He can take the life of an orphan and make it NEW by waking up her soon-to-be mommy in the middle of the night and ROCKIN' HER WORLD!!!! All I can say is *He*Makes*All*Things*New*.....