Hello 2013 & Prayer Buddy Reveal

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I'm hoping that the new year will bring more fruitful posting since 2012 was a blogging drought. Hmmm, that sounds like a resolution.

Mr. JB and I have had a busy, but a great holiday. We were able to stay home and his dad stayed with us for a few days. We saw Warhorse to kick off the holiday and to celebrate his dad's 76th birthday. We had to attend two Christmas parties since my crazy mother is fighting with some of her siblings. I have not blogged about it, but it has been an unending source of frustration for me. As most of you know, we have a strained relationship, and this has made it worse. I prayed my Christmas novena with the intention of family healing, but it hasn't happened yet.

But on to more happy things...

I got Mr. JB tickets to see the Pitts.burgh Ste.elers for Christmas. For those of you that are friends with me on FB, you know that I was more than a little afraid of being outside for four hours watching the one sport that I do not like (or understand!). It was great to see my husband's absolute joy during the game and they also won (although the game didn't count). The best part of going to Pitt.sburgh was seeing Rebecca and her husband!  They drove into the city, picked us up and we all had dinner together. It was so great to see her and to meet her dh. I was also glad that our husbands had one another to talk to while we commiserated. I think it's so cool that we got to see one another TWICE in 2012!

We got home in time to jump right back in the car to attend my best friend's parents' New Year's Eve party. We spent a couple of days with them since we hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks and we had nothing else to do. It was so nice to just sit around and relax with them. I still miss them so much and I wish that I could just go over to their house whenever I wanted, but I just have to get used to the fact that our lives have changed. It also made me feel better to hear her say that she missed her house here and so do her kids.

This morning we had an appointment with our Napro doctor and the appointment went so well! It's been a LONG time since I felt good about a fertility-related appointment. First off, my FSH has gone down to 10!!! It hasn't been that low since before my surgeries in Omaha. She doesn't think that it's related to the low-dose HCG, but I believe that it's definitely helping. She wants to continue with this protocol which is fine with me, although the daily needles are not fun. She wants me to have my B12, iron and vitamin D levels checked tomorrow (she wants me to have it done on P+6 since P+8 is a Sunday, I didn't start my HCG until P+4 since I didn't have my HCG with me at my bf's house).

Mr. JB said that he hadn't seen me that relaxed at an appointment before, which I guess is a good thing. I feel so much more relaxed since I started seeing the IF counselor. It was a definite blessing to have starting seeing her before the holidays. She showed me a few coping strategies that really helped. I'm also excited to start our homestudy process. It can't start soon enough!

Lastly, Mr. JB and I got amazing patron saints for 2013. I drew St. Philip Neri (who was the patron of my old school) and he got St. Nicholas! We did the draw at my bf's house and she chose one too and she got St. John Kanty.  I don't know what we did to have gotten such amazing patron saints! 

Oh 2013, I am so looking forward to what you have in store for us!
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Prayer Buddy Reveal:

I had the pleasure of praying for Jeanne G from Knowledge Hungry. I didn't read her blog before we were matched up, but I am so glad that I was introduced to a new blogger.

I prayed The Christmas Rose Novena, Christmas Novena and the St. Andrew Chaplet for your intentions. I also offered up a lot of my teacher-related frustration for you -- although my class is so good and sweet, the last week of school was tough to get through!

I look forward to following your blog and I will continue to pray for you!

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Thank you so much to Sarah at A Child to Call Me Mama for praying for me! When I got her e-mail I was so excited that she had prayed for me. We're endo sisters and she's an adoptive mama. Sarah your prayers were so powerful. I felt so at peace during the craziness of Advent and I made through all of December without getting sick (although I'm sick with an annoying cough now). God bless you and your beautiful family!!!

And lastly, thank you so much to all of the bloggers that offered prayers and intentions for all of us that are still waiting. Christmas is such a difficult time, but your prayers helped make it that much easier! God bless all of you!