The Life of the Wagner's

I need to add this to the top of this post.. It is HARD to sit down and blog. This has taken me 4 hours and 2 different sittings on two different days, different weeks at that. I was sick the first time and this time I have had the super bowl in my face, nerf bullets flying past and one to the head from point blank range. Thanks HG. On top of that precious kiddos are needing me and trying to "help" me type. This font has to be like size 4 and this site is outdated, but I don't really care to take the time to figure out how to update it. The pics on the side show our 4 year anniversary and our precious Belle girl. We will be married 12 years in May and sweet Belle went to doggy heaven in Oct 2015. :( There's the only update this site will get. Oh and my ADD is severe. Ok, read on. Almost four years have passed since I last posted. Easton is five and a half now, sweet as ever, and in kindergarten. He also currently legit thinks he's a secret agent. Holland Grace is 3 and a half, sassy as ever, and started pre-k in the fall. She legit thinks she's Easton's boss. Blog posts are something I do in my head over so often, but never ever take the time to do UNLESS I have big news. I have big news. First though I need to put this out there- I have recently taken Nyquil because I feel like poo and I can barely see what I'm typing because this font is so stinking small. My glasses are in my purse which is in my truck and its too cold and I am not going to get them. Therefore, the usual full of typo, half sensed, blogs I put out there might look like Pulitzer prizes compared to this. Not to mention this dinosaur of a computer that needs to be laid to rest keeps losing wifi connection so the website keeps losing connection so this may never even come to fruition. Maybe I should say the big news first and then go back to tell the story from there.. We're adopting baby Wagner 3. I remember back in October 2015 thinking how Holland Grace was well into her 2's now and if it were up to Jarrod and I to create babies,(if you haven't read my blog before I am pretty straight forward) it might be the time I would start that discussion with him. Instead, I sent an email to our adoption lawyer telling him to keep us in mind, we are open to another baby. Any baby. We added to our request to our personal prayer lists. "If its your will Lord, we would love to love another child. Since then, as time has passed, id say the desire has gotten stronger to nurture another baby, however I know maybe more than most that just because I desire it certainly doesn't mean its going to happen. We have been so abundantly blessed with our two little loves. It took realizing that God doesn't promise us anything here on earth and that my desire to be a mother might not be fulfilled for my heart to open to adoption. That's pretty embarrassing to admit, but its true. Good thing i'm a little drugged. I wanted to birth a baby like "everyone else" got to. Nothing is wrong with me so its extra not fair I cannot especially since science says I can! The moment my selfishness hit me and I realized how wrong I was that MY plan would work, the idea of adoption grew into my heart. I am not really sure my what my point of that is so instead of erasing and critiquing my words so far (I seriously can barely see them anyway) I am going to move on along. I'll give you a little time line of the way this has happened. Fall 2016 (maybe Thanksgiving tims.. ish..) Easton's birthmother told me she had met a girl who was in a very similar situation to her own. To not be specific young and pregnant unplanned. The girl, Ashley, wasn't sure what she was going to do and E's birthmother remembered we were with an adoption agency in Georgia before we met her. She asked for the name of it because she was helping Ashley, who is from Georgia, giving her advice and suggesting resources. I told her the name, told her what cities in Georgia they cover, and a little FYI that we are open to another baby... She thanked me and said that Ashley had not told her parents or her boyfriends parents yet about the pregnancy. I told her we'd pray for Ashley. I told Jarrod about our new prayer request. At Christmas E's birtmother told us she had not heard from her friend over the holidays. The day after Christmas we visited with our good friends Hunter and Bethany Brendle and their 3 precious children. Precious baby Brendle #3 was only a few weeks old. I held baby Archer a long time while we were there. Oh the baby fever.. but who doesn't hold a new baby and not want one even if its ever so slight of a feeling. I took a snap chat of baby archer as a held her. I must have mentioned wanting another baby, or maybe it was how I was longingly staring at the baby that prompted Bethany to ask if we had plans for another. Jarrod answered fast and beautifully. He said "When you adopt, God tells you how many children you will have an when." So true. Great reminder that my God is in control and He knows the desires of my heart. Moving on with the story (because I'm ready for another shot of Nyquil and the bed), 3 days later I was at work and get a text around 10:30am that said "SO I just heard back from Ashley and she wants to meet y'all. She thinks y'all would be a good fit to adopt her baby! my answer "OH.MY.GOSH." She sent me Ashley's number to call and so I called her. **********I didn't make it any longer that night. Now its a week and a day later. No more Nyquil excuse. Moving on*********** I called her. She told me she definitely wanted to put her baby up for adoption. She said she had heard a lot about us and thinks her baby would be a perfect fit for our family. All the emotions, feelings, things running through my head... I told her that we would love to adopt her baby, but I wanted to make sure she knew she had options. We know lots of people who are wanting to adopt their first child and she doesn't have to pick us just because we fell into her path. She said she understand that and she liked the fact her baby will be our third. Good enough for me. She told me the baby is a girl, due May 4th. She wanted to meet us. The day was a Thursday and that weekend was New Years eve/day. We were leaving for the Passion conference on Monday. I knew she lived in Georgia, but had no idea where. I assumed it was in Southeast Georgia. I asked her where she lives- outside of Atlanta. Immediately my little brain started clicking.. We had a female spot open for Passion we had not been able to fill for a month. I told her we would be in Atlanta for the Passion Conference and had a spot open. She had not heard of the conference I explained it is a Christian conference for college aged students with awesome speakers and music. She said she would like to go. That Monday she met us in the hotel lobby in Atlanta. There were probably 100 people in there, but I knew who she was the second I saw her face. I enjoyed getting to spend time with her for 3 days. We have a lot in common, just as I do with Easton and Holland Graces precious birthmothers. We picked out a name for the baby on the last day- Addilyn. Baby Addie. Middle name to be determined. Our prayer since the minute we found out about this has been for God clearly shut the door to this opportunity if its not His will. No doors have been shut.Please be in prayer for the situation. For Ashley and baby Addie. For Ashley and her ex-boyfriend Andrew.. their situation is not a good one right now. For the logistics of it.. she is due at the end of baseball season and the school year. We will have to stay in Georgia after she's born. I don't know how I am going to handle work because I work off commission. Lots of unknowns that we know God will take care of in time.

I can't believe that football season is about to begin! We had a really busy summer, always on the go as usual. We were able to continue our baseball tour by going to Chicago. I loved Wrigley field almost as much as Fenway. We also drove over to Milwaukee and went to a Brewers game. We will definitely be going back to Chicago. We loved it. It was SO much better than NYC.
Besides baseball we got to go to the Kenny Chesney concert at Soldier Field. It was so much fun! I was so happy that Jarrod got to go to a show with me. I get to shows pretty often thanks to my best friend Jamison who works for KC, but Jarrod can never go because the tour is during baseball and football seasons. He had an awesome time, especially when we were side stage with Wayne Mills. Jarrod went up to him and said Roll Tide- Waynes eyes lit up, and that sparked an hour long conversation between them. Also, many people think Jarrod looks like Carl Edwards (the Nascar driver). When we were watching from the side of the stage we started noticing alot of people looking at Jarrod and trying to get our attention... they thought he was Carl Edwards:-) Wayne Mills and his wife thought it was hillarious and of course it went to Jarrods head a little bit:-)Heres a picture of Seth, Jarrod (Carl,haha), me, and Jamison at the show

We also got to go to the beach for 5 days the beginning of July which was great. We are fortunate to be able to go to the beach several times during the year because we live so close, but usually it is only for a couple of days max. Jarrod has gotten to go deep sea fishing several times this year and I have gotten to go a couple of times too! Jarrod is excited that we now have a pastime that we can enjoy doing together.
Besides that we have just been enjoying spending time with our babies(dogs) Belle and Ellie May.
Ellie May started school last week because she is so so stubborn. She does whatever she wants and loves to run.. away. She is also STILL not completely potty trained. The good thing is she is so very sweet and LOVES people. Belle really likes having a sister too. Ellie May has definitely made our home life more fun- she is hillarious to watch.
Well the next few monthes are going to be very busy for us.. Geneva football, weddings and showers, AU and AL football.. Like I always say I will try to get better about updating blogs, but I know you know not to hold your breath:-)

Well, clearly I am awful at blog posting. Maybe one day I will have something interesting going on so I will post more often. It has been since the December since the last post. We had a great Christmas and so far 2009 has been much better than 2007 and 2008. Nothing eventful has happened- which has made it good. Baseball season came and went along with spring football, now it is time for summer football workouts for Jarrod. Next week is his last week of being in the classroom, but he will work all summer except for the week of June 8-14. To take advantage of his mini vacation we are going to continue of MLB park tour. Last year we went to Atlanta, Boston, and New York. This year we considered going back to Boston because we really liked the city alot, but didnt get to spend much time there before taking a train to NYC. BUT, we decided to continue on with a new city- Chicago. We are going to Atlanta on June 10 then flying out to Chicago on June 11 and staying until the 14th. Good friends of ours from ourSunday School class Seth and Crystal Nolen are going with us. Seth is a baseball coach as well. We are definitely going to Wrigley to watch the Cubs play, and may also go to watch the White Sox play as well. Ironically, the Kenny Chesney tour will be in Chicago at the same time. Jarrod was supposed to go to the Birmingham show we went to a couple of weeks ago, but as usual coaching duties called and he could not make it. So it works out great that he gets a chance to go to a show with me. He will get to hang out with Jamison and meet our other friends on the tour. The show is at Soldier Field where the Bears play so that is a plus, the boys will get to see that stadium too. The big plus for me is that when Kenny plays stadiums, Sugarland opens for him! I LOVE Sugarland and am excited about getting to see them live again. Jarrod asked me recently if I get tired of seeing KC in concert over and over. I told him that first of all, i wouldnt go, except for the yearly girl trip, if I had to pay to get in. But, on the other hand, there is a good reason Kenny has won entertainer of the year so many times- He puts on an incredible show! Its never ever the same. I love concerts in general- been to 100's of em starting when I was just three (saw the Monkees:-) Jarrod is not a concert lover, but Kenny is a show he wants to see.

Speaking of concerts, June 4,5,&,6 is Bama Jam. We will see Taylor Swift, Kid Rock, Brooks and Dunn, among many, many others. On June 5th we will not be going to Bama Jam because we are going to Montgomery to see Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns is both Jarrod and my absolute favorite group! We are excited. Seth and Crystal and going with us and Bo is going too.

In other news, i'm sure you would like to know when we are going to do IVF again. Honestly, until just recently I didn't know if I would ever do it again. It was so, so, hard to do. Not so much the numerous the 100's of needles as much as the emotional part. I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy (not that I have any enemies.. just a phrase). Lately I have been considering trying again in the late fall/early winter. When I told Jarrod I may be ready again he was happy, but reminded me what I had somehow forgotten... we will need more money. Even though we bought the "two try" package, it does not include my medication or Jarrods procedure. Last time we took out a loan to pay for it all, and our insurance covered our medication. insurance only covers one IVF cycle in a lifetime and Jarrods procedure has to be done again of course... that quickly blew my bubble wondering where we would find $5,000! We are not letting that worry us though, all we can do is pray and ask for your prayers as well. God will give us a child (or children) in his time.

On a happier note, we just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on May 21st. We went to Montgomery and ate with the family to celebrate Bo's 23rd b'day as well.
We are loving our house and it feels like home more and more each day. I have started selling candles- Flair Affair- that my friend Stacey Bates makes in Montgomery. I keep a stock of them here at the house and have enjoyed selling them as well as having the supply here for when I need one for myself:-)

Oh and how could I forget our newest addition! In mid February we got ELLIE MAY MOSES WAGNER, a very hyper, but loving pocket beagle. Belle didnt know what to think at first, but they have become good friends. (sisters;-) EM is really stubborn and is STILL not potty trained. I blame Jarrod and I too though bc we dont have the time to put into it with her like we did Belle.

Well, this should be long enough for ya, we are having the Geneva coaching staff and administration over for an end of the year get together and I have to start de-dog hairing the house.... hopefully I will post again sooner than 6 monthes..

Love,
Lindsey

I am making a post and a month hasn't gone by! Maybe I can continue to get better at this... I have nothing interesting to post. We have just been getting ready for Christmas. It has been fun (for me) decorating the new house. I LOVE having a fire place- now I can actually hang our stockings! I also got a small tree for the sun room and put all of my Auburn ornaments on it. Jarrods Alabama ornaments are on a small table top tree in his "man hut" (the guest house). I haven't finished wrapping presents yet, but I hope to get caught up just as soon as I finish this post.
Friday night we are having a Christmas party at my sister-in-laws house. There are about 15 hosts/hostess's and we are having a band play. It should be fun. We are looking forward to having a house full of guests this weekend coming in for the party. Saturday is our niece Sarahbeths 7th birthday party. She is having a roller skate party. I'm sure it will bring back lots of fond memories from Looneys:) She continues to make us proud- she requested that her friends not bring her a present, but instead bring a gift for a child that is in need. I can't imagine being like that when I was turning 7!
Well, I am about to start wrapping! Have a great week!

I realize it's been over 3 monthes since I have posted a blog.. Jarrods football season has ended- Geneva had a winning season, but unfortunately didn't make the play-offs. Auburn football has come and gone. I'm relieved this season is over and looking forward to a better season next year. As far as the baby situation goes nothing has changed. I thought that right after the first In vitro cycle ended in June unsucessfully that i would want to try again in the fall. Well fall came and went and I wasn't ready. And... (sorry mom) I am still not ready. I think that if I would have gone into a second cyle soon after the first it would have been easier. But after a few monthes and a good bit of time had gone by I realized how hard going through In vitro actually was. After I had time to look back at what we had been through I am not ready to do it again. The multiple daily injections, the hormones, weight gain, bloodwork, traveling to Montgomery and B'ham ALOT (weekly then daily in the last couple of weeks before surgery), surgery.... but worst of all the unknown. The emotional and pyschological consequences were AWFUL. I couldn't even try to explain. And the fact that we bought the "shared risk" plan. If after 2 IVF cycles we don't have a live birth we get a portion of our money back. Thats so scary to us- if the next time doesn't work..... we get some money back- but no baby.
(if you have no clue what I am talking about- We found out last January that Jarrod has a rare genetic disorder that doesn't allow him to reproduce naturally- our only choice to have our own children is through In Vitro Fertilization.) So thats that for now. Maybe I will be ready in 2009 to try again..

And finally on the happenings of the past 3 monthes- WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! It was totally not in our plans. Last year we bought some land outside of town and had house plans ready to go. We were going to start building in the spring. Well, some good friends of ours that flip houses finshed a house in Hartford. When we went to go see the finished product Jarrod fell in love with the idea of the guest house the house has in the back yard being his "man hut". We told them that if they could'nt sell it and could come down on the price to let us know. It was pretty much a joke- especially since when our sister in law Amanda bought her beautifully re-done house from our friends Jarrod repeatedly said he would NOT EVER buy an old house. Well we all now the economy is down now and the house didn't get any bites from potential buyers. On labor day on one of our frequent trips to the Outback they made us an offer. I loved the house except for the lack of closets.. We worked out a way to build on a closet and the rest is history! We have been in the house for about 2 monthes now and are getting settled in slowing but surely.

Well thats what has been going on since the end of August. Now its December and I can't believe it! Friday will be a year since the day Mam-mama left us unexpectedly... (which was a few weeks after we lost my grandfather). It was a hard hard Christmas season last year to say the least followed by a hard beginning of the year with the infertility issues.

We are looking forward to a Merry Christmas season and a happy 2009. We are happy and healthy and we both love our jobs- we do know how very blessed we are. It should'nt be long before I make another post, but I can't make any promises!!

Sorry it's been almost two weeks since the last post! I was super busy last week. Today has been a great day to catch up. I've been catching up on cleaning, washing clothes, and now blogging=) Tonight we will hang out with David and Brooke and Brandon and Nicole. It is always a blessing to be around these wonderful friends. We are all alot alike. We love to eat and laugh. We love Outback Steakhouse (probably too much). Jarrod and I average eating there once a week and so do David and Brooke. Since we all ate there last night tonight we are cooking out. We know we will have a blast no matter where the night leads- we could play Uno, attempt to play Rook, or get the guitar out and sing praise songs together- maybe all 3!

Jarrod's school year is now in full swing. Football season officially starts next Friday night. We (Geneva) were supposed to have a jamboree last night, but Tropical Storm Faye had other plans. Next Friday night we open up with an away game against Rehobeth. I will not get to be there though. In April we got tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert in Jacksonville Saturday August 30th. I didn't know then I would have to miss the game=( Atleast its not a home game! I try not to miss a game at all. This year I will miss 2- both away games. One for the girls trip to Jacksonville and one to go see Wicked in Atlanta. All others I will be at with bells on;) I'll post the schedule soon. We would love to have anyone who wants to come watch a game!

We are also excited about college football! I can't wait to watch Auburn play and Jarrod has had next Saturday planned for over 2 weeks. His day will start early with watching film from the night before and then his day will be dedicated to Alabama football. I will have my computer in Jacksonville to keep up with the Tigers opening game. We each plan on going to atleast a couple of games in Auburn and in Tuscaloosa. Jarrod will join Amanda and I in Auburn for the LSU game. He will probably be wearing purple and gold. Amanda and I are planning on going with him to the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. Wherever we are when it comes to game time we usually watch in different places- atleast in different rooms. We have alot of respect for each other. Our no crap talking policy (to each other) is how we can handle being married to the enemy every Saturday each fall. See, here's a picture of us at the 2007 iron bowl. Come game time we were at different parts of the stadium.


I leave this paragraph with WAAAAAARRRR EAGLE!

One last thing we have had going is trying to figure out when to build our house and when to try our next IVF cycle. BIG decisions huh! We feel like what is best for us is to start building our house in March. That way the bulk of the project will be in between baseball and football and Jarrod will be able to handle all the sub-contracting and do alot of work ourselves. Too bad he doesn't get all summer off!

As far as our next IVF cycle we have decided the best time to try again will be December/January.

Lots of factors have gone into our decision making process and of course LOTS of prayer. We are both at peace with both of our big decisions.

Also, this week I will begin a weekly bible study. Beth Moore "Breaking Free". Brooke invited me, it is at her church where she and David are the youth ministers. I am excited about it and hope to grow in my spiritual life alot.
I will also be helping with and be apart of an infertility support group. It was started last fall at Calvary Baptist Church in Dothan. It is called Hearts Desire Ministry. Its for women suffering from or have suffered from infertility or miscarriage. The Lord let me straight to this ministry. They had taken the summer off to pray for the Lord to help them know what direction to go with the ministry and how to get the word out about it. I am excited to see the ministry grow and be blessed by Him!

So thats what's going on- a little bit of this, little bit of that, and lots of football!

I have finally (somewhat) figured this blogging thing out and now I can get started!

Many of our friends have starting blogging and I find myself reading their blogs often. It has been a great way to keep up with whats going on in their lives. I have finally talked myself into starting this because I think it will be a good way for everyone to keep up with whats going on in our life. I am really bad about not filling people in and forgetting who I tell what so hopefully this will help. I will give a little background about us to fill you in on what has been going on pre-blogging:

We were married on May 21, 2005. Jarrod and I both graduated around that time and moved to Hartford. We live in a rental house owned by his dad and brother until we build. Jarrod went to work for Wagner A/C until last summer he followed his heart to coaching/teaching. He is at Geneva- the rival of where he went to school- Geneva Co. He loves it! The administration, teachers, and coaching staff are awesome. He is very happy! He puts in loooong hours each week, but we all know he would'nt be happy if he didn't stay busy working. I started off selling copiers and have ended up the marketing/admissions director at Hartford Health Care. I have been there for over a year and a half and I love my job too. We both know what it's like to be unhappy in a career so we thank the Lord that we are both happy.
2007 was a very hard year for both of us. I lost my grandfather Papa Joe October 27th. He had a heart attack and stroke and had been struggling with cancer among other illnesses. It was hard to watch him get weak because he was such a strong and independent man who was always on the go. I miss him alot but am glad he is not suffering anymore. My grandmother Mam-mama passed away unexpectantly on December 5th. Most of you reading this who know me has atleast met Mam-mama before. She was always at every activity I ever had. She was like a second mom. We were extremely close. This was by far the most traumatic experience I had ever had. I had been trying to call her to talk to her and couldn't get her. She had passed away in her sleep. I thank the Lord she didn't ever have a big delcline in health- she could still take care of herself. But thats the part that makes the selfish part of me so upset because I (and the rest of my family) was not prepared at all for her loss.
Last October I went to the doctor because we had been trying to concieve for a year unsucessfully. We discovered I have "subclinical" hypothyroidism. I began treatment for that. I had other test and procedures done and planned on taken a medication (clomid) for what we thought was our problem- not ovualting. Before I could start that medicine Jarrod had to get checked. We put this off til the last possible time because he wasn't looking forward to it and we thought we knew our problem. He was tested in January of this year and to our suprise found out he has "congenial absence of the vas deferens"- a genetic disorder. What this means is the "piping" that carries out the necessary male contributor to creating a child does not exist in Jarrod. It is pretty rare- I believe around one in a million. There is no possible way for us to have kids except through in vitro fertilization. All of this news was mind boggling. Thankfully I know a couple who have the same problem. (What are the odds!) So she helped me through all the initial questions I had before we could get to the specialist. And so our IVF journey began. After a "cycle" of testing it was determined that we could start IVF. We did our first cycle this past spring. It was insucessful. The emotions that go along with what we have gone through are unexplainable. It has been tough. Fortunately we have faith in our Lord and know He will guide us through this. God only allowed Jarrod to have a pity party about his condition for about a day before he clearly spoke to Jarrod and told him He was doing this for a reason and it would be ok. Talk about an experience we will never forget! So far Jarrod and I have gotten closer to each other and to God. It has been such a learning experience! After we found out the first IVF cycle didn't work I did'nt know when I would be ready to go through that again. The shots are a piece of cake, the surgeries not too bad, but when an embryo- a living creation formed of Jarrod and I with the potential to continue growing and in 9 months be in our arms,was put in me it was a feeling I couldn't began to explain. It was VERY emotional. I have just recently begun to think about the next cycle. More about that on our current blogs.
Among other issues on the Wagner side of the family that are heartbreaking to us, we have been staying with his mother 2 nights a week since the beginning of the year and will continue to do so. She has Multiple Scerosis for those who don't know. She is an extremely strong woman and is dealing with what is given to her as best she can. She does not want to have to depend on others to take care of her and that drive (stubborness) is what is keeping her going as much as she possibly can.
I think that has wrapped everything up in a nutshell. From now on I will be giving updates on what is currently going on!