2011 Moments

The last day of 2011! I can't believe it but am SO excited to move out of this year and into a new one! I'm going to carve out some time later today when the babies are both napping, (ut oh, did I just jinx myself?!) to write out a list of goals and things I wish to be able to look back on this time 365 days from now and see significant growth and improvement in my spiritual and personal life from.

However, as rough as 2011 was I do want to acknowledge the things I am extremely thankful for that came this year:

1. A greater dependency on Jesus as the sustainer of life and giver of everything we need to survive.  My ability to trust in His plan was tested in many ways this last year. However on this side of the year, I believe I have the assurance that in what have been some of the hardest situations we've faced so far, I can rely fully on Christ to provide and continue to bless in the ways He knows are best for my life, 'nough said!

2. A strengthened relationship with my incredibly patient husband.  Jake and I have been together now for 12 year and married for 8 and a half.  This year was the hardest year we've faced together due to many changes we faced as a family.  Outside of my faith in God, the one person/thing I could always count on and look to for "the next step" was my Jake.  Not only was he dealing with the same strain of these changes but also a hormonal, morning-sick-ridden, pregnant wife for 10 months out the year. :) I know that life will still throw us many, many more curve balls but I believe that with Jake as my partner and best friend and the solid foundation of Jesus that we try to continually build our relationship on, we can take on the world and come out the other end with a deeper love and commitment to one another.  Thank you my sweet husband for loving me and putting up with me this last year!

3. Addison Marie, my first born, beautiful little girl! My heart could not be more full than to watch Addison as she grows into a loving, gifted, relational and fiery little girl!  Addison has gone from a new 2 year old just finishing up potty training ( *chuckling as I recall a Dec. 27th trip to CDA RaptorReef with The Bostock's and upon the excitement during the jumping on the bunk beds in the hotel room Addison, on the top bunk with Izzi proceed to have an accident that left me scrubbing sheets and blankets in the bathroom with the little shampoo bottles intended for hair, but destined poop-clean up instead), to a pony-tail wearing, dress loving "mini-sixteen year old" with a HUGE vocabulary, who loves to help mom in the kitchen, read with and be chased around the house by her dad, decorate the house :) and hang her clothes up on her "wings" (aka: hangers) in the closet.  She had learned about independence and her "right"to choose to say "NO" but also has to deal with the consequences of not following directions from mom and dad when she disobeys.  Addison is a light, she adores her new little brother, her dear friend Izzi, cousin Dominique and Daddy as well as enjoys spending time with her grandparents and cousins.  I look forward to seeing her continue to grow and change and blossom into more of who God created her to be.  OH! And she's as excited as can be to be starting up ballet classes this next week!

4. CRUZ HALE OLIVER!! Cruz made his appearance on October 21st (right on time as I was scheduled for my C-Section on the 21st).  How exciting it was to welcome a little boy into our family! My parents were dying for a grandson and a grandson they got!  Cruz is now 10 weeks old and growing faster than I can believe.  He is just shy of 14 pounds already and just over 24 inches long.  He is easily moving into his 3-6 month clothes and is blessing us with many smiles, silly grins and coos!  He loves his tummy, and is already rolling over and moving his legs and knees underneath himself in attempt to show us he could be an early crawler?   He is a great napper and is close to sleeping through the night.  His face melts my heart and boy does he love his sister! When she is in the room he searches for her and adores it when he gets her full attention.  I am so in love with our amazing gift.  God has richly blessed us with Cruz and we are excited to learn more about our little boy this year and get to know his personality as he reveals it to us as 2012 unfolds.

5. Amazing mentors and friends.  Blessed to be working along side some fantastic people at First Christian Church part time, I am in the company of some of the most awesome brothers and sisters in Christ.  I have been challenged by many of their words and experiences and find myself regularly reflecting on these things and asking myself how I can change, grow and adopt a more Christ-like attitude, perspective and walk in my own life.   And WOW, some amazing girlfriends that have enriched my life and been there for me when I've been completely unraveled and needed to "share" to the point of hearing my voice and exhausting their ears far to much.  These women are some of the greatest blessings in my life and have shown me the love of God in so many ways this last year. Thank you girls, you know who you are.

6. Family. Jake and I couldn't be more lucky than to live in the same town as both of our families.  For the support, love and constant belief in us, I couldn't be more thankful.  There really isn't much more to say except that we are incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to raise our babies this close to both sets of grandparents and cousins.  It makes my heart swell to know that Addison and Cruz will have them as an active part of their lives! How much more blessed could we be....

Well, I think that about wraps it up for me, there is much more I could write about, but these are the biggest pieces of my life and the things I am most moved to write about.  I pray this day brings you some moments of reflection on 2011 and a push to think about what your 2012 hopes and goals are!  May this year be the year of blessing, growth and a deeper commitment to growing in Him!

Cheers,
Kristine

Something New!

Something New...
Yay for 2012! Counting down the last few days of 2011 has had me questioning if one more cookie is really worth it, and confronting the fact that I think I have a sugar addiction that started October 21st and is going to have to end January 1st.  I decided after having Cruz that I'd enjoy the holiday food and not feel guilty-- well I think I over-indulged and now have a sugar addiction, ugh.  That being said Jake and I decided we were going to re-kick off our at home BeachBody workouts (INSANITY for him and TurboFire for me) and we were questioning a new kind of "lifestyle eating" one that we could apply to our lives without feeling totally deprived of things we like to have ever so often... (my dad's cheeseburgers in the summer and mom's sugar cookies during Christmas are too hard to say no to). :)
Our church offered a new "diet" that is a lifestyle eating plan called "The Daniel Plan" this last year and after sampling some of the food and learning a bit more about the program (as well as being challenged to participate); We are starting this up on Monday and look forward to the journey as it encompasses not only diet, but spirituality and looking at the body as a temple, etc. Check it out here: http://www.danielplan.com/
Also, TurboFire will be something new for me, I've always been a runner and INSANITY girl but seeing that I am still nursing Cruz and will be for quite some time, INSANITY is just a bit too much for my body to handle, he depends on me, so I am going to try TurboFire this time and will see what happens.  It is an interval training program as well but is more dance oriented with some weight incorporation as well. Did you see I said "DANCE" program?!? yikesssss! This could be a total flop but I'm going to give it a go! I'll keep my blog posted, ha, with my thoughts and progress! :)
I am going to throw one plug out there-- I am a BeachBody coach and if you are looking to order a home-based workout program (P90x, P90x2, INSANITY, TurboFire, Hip-Hop Abs, Slim in Six, etc.) get in touch with me: kristinemoliver@yahoo.com or go to www.beachbodycoach.com/mrsoliver to see what we got.  I can help you find the right program :)
You can also get in touch with me via Facebook here: (like me) :)  http://www.facebook.com/coachkristineoliver

Cheers!
Kristine

2012 Here we Come!

No lies here, I am THANKFUL 2011 is almost over. Rough year for the Oliver's but we did get the gift of a little boy name Cruz Hale who arrived 10.21.2011 

Here are some pictures of our little boy who we adore!

 Mommy loves her little man...

 Such a sweet boy

 I love these shots of him wrapped up so cozy and peaceful!

Christmas Gift!

Addison also was a light to us this year-- She is a sassy (wonder where she gets that?!?!) little thing and so far three (she turned three in late Nov.) has proven to be a little tougher than 2 was....She is very advanced verbally and her comprehension is unreal sometimes....so when I say tougher, I mean her attitude sometimes resembles that of a 14 year old :) ha!   She is bright, funny and kind and ALWAYS wanting to be "in the know," again, like someone I know!  We love our curious little girl and enjoy watching her reach new milestones.  Here are a few pics of her from this fall:

 

So as we look forward, we are VERY thankful for the new start of a new year! 2012 we are coming for you and can't wait to see how we grow and make memories to last a lifetime in the new space you create!

Cheers to you and yours!

2011 Rear- view Mirror

2011, crazy. Already I am looking back at 3 months and one week in this new year feeling like an insane amount of time has passed. To say 2011 started off the way we ended 2010 would be laughable. Reality is 2010 was a great year for us. After the last couple years of big changes financially and me transitioning from working full time to being a full time mommy creating a time of uncertainty regarding our position financially. 2010 was the year that we started to rest in the peace that God had not only provided for our needs during this time, but He had been blessing us in so many ways. We hit a stride that allowed us to breath out and not be tense in the shoulders waiting for "the next big thing" to hit and propel us into panic mode. My ability to "let go and let God" had grown immensely! I was no longer in that place where you have that nag in the back of your mind or the pit of your stomach always. I could honestly say I trusted God with these things and believed in His ability to show me how incredibly faithful He is! That said, our year was good, perfectly uneventful and enjoyable in that sense! :) Around the end of the year Jake and I decided that it was time to start thinking about another baby. Addison was just shy of 2 and we had always said about the time she'd be 3 would be just perfect for us, me specifically. Amazingly the first month we tried, I found out I was pregnant and was honestly shocked at how quickly everything happened but within the week I lost the baby and felt the disappointment of another miscarriage. The holidays came and went and just as the promise of 2011's fresh start shone we found ourselves facing the horror of Jake loosing his job of 5.5 years mid-January.

Here's where my insecurity should have got the best of me, where I should have been freaking out and pulling out my box of band-aids and super glue getting ready to "fix" the situation to the best of my human ability. But you know what, as I write this blog, this is where I realized how much my faith in God had grown. He had never left us hanging the past two years, we'd never missed a meal, been unable to fill up our gas tank or even miss a birthday gift to a loved one. As I said before, I could really only look back and see blessings. Now don't get me wrong, I am FAR from perfect, just ask my husband :) and i had my moments of weakness and questioning "why us, why now," but when push came to shove, I knew God was shutting doors and opening windows as the cliche goes.... and just over 2 months later Jake is working for an unbelievable company in a career track he had hoped to eventually transition into.

There have been some big changes we have had to face, our house is on the market in a terrible real estate economy and we really need it to sell, but again, God knows, no really, HE KNOWS better than we do what is best, how to work out the details, for which he cares so much about. I know that there may be some days, weeks and steps of uncertainty as we move forward, but ultimately I just feel so richly blessed by a Father who pursues my heart and wants nothing more than to continue to show me His face, if I seek, I find.

Finally, despite my initial concern following Jake's layoff and not knowing what the future held for us regarding his job, a potential move out of the area, etc. We decided that more than anything the two negative pregnancy tests following my October miscarriage were more disappointing than anything and that there was NO reason to hold off on trying for another child regardless of our financial situation. My initial thoughts in January were that it might be a good thing that we hadn't found ourselves pregnant just yet, but as I mentioned, those negative tests only confirmed the desire we had to keep trying and trusting that God truly is "For Family," and would continue to take care of us if He chose to bless us with another pregnancy. Saying I trust you God, means I trust you right? Well, I have an all to easy tendency to fall back into a place of micromanaging God when I feel a little frightened....but in this case we turned it all over to Him and He continues to prove His Glory over and over. Despite our inadequacies, our doubts and our lack of trust and faith in Him that shows up daily in our human lives.

Yesterday Jake and I heard the beating heart of our second bundle of joy. A strong, fast heartbeat, a reminder of the blessing and heart of a Father who is sovereign and full of love for His children. in about 29 weeks Addison will meet her little brother or sister and our family of 3 will be a family of 4.

If the next 8+ months are anything like the last 3 have been, we are in for change, ups, downs and more. I've already buckled the seat belt around my growing tummy and look forward to watching God pave the way for this adventure we find ourselves in the midst of... prayer- fully hopeful that I will chase after, seek His face and TRUST whole-heartedly in all that He is doing to show us more of who He is. Please Jesus, help me to do this even when your plan is fuzzy or blurry in my eyes.

May your spring be filled with the blessing of newness in Him....

-K