Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Cheers to an update!



I feel like for every single day that passes, a month passes. Does that make sense?

I have had such a great time these past few months, I'll try my best to include everything, but I've been busy livin' and hanging out with my super sweet radtastic family.

For starters, Mommy's day wasn't too long ago. In our family, we never wait to give gifts on actual birthdays, instead we just sorta give the gifts the second we get them. . . Yes, C has his Father's Day gift already. What can I say, we're too excited to wait! So on Friday night C and the girls walked in with some awesome gifts. If you know me, you know my heart is made of tortillas, so it's no surprise C got me a tortilla press! I'm not sure if that gift was more for me or for him. . . I mentioned my love for an instagram account and I mentioned how they released a book and how I'd love to have said book... C listens, when he wants, and bought me the book! Last, on Sunday C put up the world's greatest gift... a hammock. Everyone from the neighbor kids, to my family and strangers have truly enjoyed the hammock.
Victoria Cast Iron Tortilla Press

Image result for humans of new book




Before I forget, tomorrow I'll celebrate 3 months at my new job! I can honestly say, I'm forever grateful God pushed me through a door I wasn't ready to go through. I loved my old job, but I really enjoy the people who surround me now and my job. It's truly a blessing to work with such great people. The other day I was having the worst day I've had here and I walked into our warehouse and I heard something familiar. One of my favorite christian songs. I looked to one of the drivers and smiled. He said, "yeah, it's great they let us listed to this, huh?" I couldn't agree more. To work for a company who doesn't mind the melodies floating around and to hear others sing while they work... it's just something I hope to never take for granted, working with Christians is such a great gift.



Summer nights are among us, except something beautiful has happened... the weather isn't disgusting hot yet.  Since I am home super early these days, we are enjoying the extra free time! The girls love hanging out outside and so do the pups!



Our almost 2 year old daughter had a grand celebration.  Most of our family made the drive for the party and our close friends stopped in too! It was a great day for an outdoor party and we're so grateful for everyone who stopped by to help us celebrate. I'm just a little mad I didn't get a piece of cake, but I'll live. I'm pretty sure the kids had a blast, I mean a pinata, slide and moon bounce? Can you say good nap? So the parents win and the kids win, everyone wins! 




Of course since my family was in town, we had to get a family picture, duh. So grateful for these clowns and all that they mean to me. I have never laughed so hard in my life and I'm sure Heads Up will never be the same. . . 



And of course it seems as though our friends are either buying homes, making babies, or getting married. So it's party central always! 
Cheers to our lovely friends who are home owners! Nothing says you own a home like a buffet full of delicious 1,000 calorie dishes and fun people! 


I can't believe it's June, and I can't believe in just a few shorts weeks C and I will have a 2 year old daughter and I'll be married to a 31 year old hunk. 

I promise to update more often! 

Mercedes



Tuesday, April 14, 2015

BBQ

Do you ever find yourself thinking of someone or something, out of the blue? Does something ever take you back to a moment in time? It happens quite often to me, I could list countless moments, things or places that flood my mind with memories.  

A while back a friend taught me how to make the most tender pulled pork. Aside from the amazing taste, making it is so easy. So it’s a win-win for sure.

I was a little shocked when Baby M first tried BBQ.
I was shocked because she devoured her plate full and asked for more.
If you know Baby M, you know she’s a picky eater and meat is her least favorite food. So when she actually liked the BBQ I was almost in tears rejoicing!

The other night I made BBQ and Baby M kept rubbing her belly and saying, “mmmmm…. mmmmm…”

I’m not sure why, but the thought never crossed my mind, until this night, this particular meal, this plate full of BBQ for Baby M. When I met Baby M’s birth mom, she was working at the most adorable downtown restaurant. She often told me about her meals she would eat while at work and she usually picked that restaurant for us to eat lunch at. She loved BBQ and hated most other meats and is the picky eater queen. The restaurant boasted some of the best BBQ in Mississippi. 

I knew Baby M would have her features, her nose, her smile, her attitude, her strong will and even her love of BBQ. 

I'm forever grateful for these moments and my memories I'll carry with me always. 

Three cheers for BBQ! 

Monday, March 30, 2015

The Bennett Family

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a post, to say our life is busy, is truly an understatement. I can’t believe we’re about to step into April, I’m still trying to write 2015, instead of 2014.

This year has been a year of surprises to say the least and while I know God has a reason for every storm, it never makes the moments less scary.
Today, I’m going to share a little about a wonderful family. This family and another family really brought the best out of Cody and I. Without a doubt, they really did help us through our first years of marriage and we’re forever grateful for their guidance, love and support.  

We have had the privilege of attending the same church for over 10 years. Through those 10 years we’ve met some of the most incredible people, enjoyed way too many calories and are forever grateful for the lifelong friendships we have. When C and I were in our early 20’s, we started working in the youth group. Our youth group was full of so many different teenagers and we loved it. I knew God wanted to use C and I to connect with these kiddos, but I never knew 10 years later they’d actually still think we were halfway cool, crazy right? In the years as youth leaders, a couple teens seemed to always flock to the Rodgers peeps, they became more and more like family.  

One of the craziest, most humorous and slightly inappropriate teens we’ve had the privilege of knowing and watching grow is our dearest Aaron.  I tried to think of a word to describe him and I can’t find one appropriate suitable for this blog post, but I’m sure I’ll think of one. He has two of the greatest siblings, a superstar athlete and the kindest, most adorable sister. I like to call her the baby whisperer because I’ve yet to meet any kiddo that doesn’t love Kirstie. Then you have Aaron’s parents, Lynette and Chris, who work so well together and who should have gray hair from dealing with Aaron, but somehow look fabulous.

This family means so much to C and I for so many reasons. They know our story and still love us unconditionally. Chris taught me how to make the best pulled pork, Lynette stocked Baby M’s closet for a year, I promise it took me 20 minutes to open her gift alone at our shower. These two are some of the most generous human beings to walk this earth. I’ve personally had the pleasure of serving alongside these two and I’ve witnessed & been a recipient of their generosity.  

A week ago, life changed for this family in so many ways. While working, Chris was injured, falling 20 feet from a roof.  Chris suffered many broken bones and a skull fracture. I’m sharing this story for 3 reasons.

Pray
Pray for a full recovery and for peace for his family.

Help
As a sole provider for his family, Chris will be out of work for sometime while he recovers. If you’re able, any amount is greatly appreciated.
 http://www.gofundme.com/chrisbennett

Share! Share! Share!
By sharing their story and their Go Fund Me page, imagine how many prayers and support the family can receive? Your support is needed and appreciate! 
Thank you for reading about our dear friends and thank you for your support.
I’m believing and praying for a full recovery for Chris.


Much love,  

Mercedes 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Hey, Hey, Heeeeyyyy!


It’s hard for me to believe it’s really March, it seems like it should still be January. I also won't talk about how much I don't love snow or ice . . . 

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and here’s why:

Time
I seriously can’t tell you what I do in 24 hours, but somewhere in there . . . I make meals, feed babies, clean, work full time, clean some more, kiss babies, spend time with C and oh, I sleep sometimes. My days seem to pass by faster than I’d like to admit and I’m just hanging on for the ride.

Family
Our little family grew by one in mid January and it’s been fun and wild! Baby M tends to be very needy these days, almost whiny. Baby J fights her sleep and demands to be held a lot. Would we trade the bad days with either one, absolutely not. Sometimes I still feel like we won the lottery, chosen to parent these two beauties. It’s also pretty rad to parent with such a great partner in crime, Cody. He and I work pretty well together, even when we both want to cry.

Changes
I know I briefly mentioned the new baby, but to add some spice to life, I also lost my job about 2 weeks ago. It was a complete shock to me and to be honest, I’m still completely shocked and a little sad. I really did love my job, but I really loved the team I worked for the most. I had the privilege of working alongside some of the nicest, strongest and greatest people. I know God had and still has a plan, it’s just waiting to see it through, that makes the inpatient side of me want to scream! I will say, that God opened up a door, for me to go and work for a great company. I started last week and the employees are super great, so inviting and the atmosphere there is healthier than the last. Things have changed for us with my new gig, but I can already see the goodness coming from the job change.

I’ll write more when time allows, but I have to do this crazy thing… you know, get ready for work….

Whatever you take from this post, please always carry with you just how great God and love is.  Thank you to the family, friends, our amazing church peeps for helping us through these crazy and wild transitions. Seriously, I can’t explain how much your support means to me!

<3 Mercedes


Saturday, January 24, 2015

Josie


I remember the day like it was yesterday.
I am a morning person to the fullest, so it’s no surprise that I wake up around 5 am most mornings. On this particular morning I woke up at 5 am and I started the daily debate  - do I get up and run and eat donuts today or do I not run and skip the donuts. While contemplating my life changing decision, I grabbed my phone and checked my email and then did the ultimate time ruining thing – I checked my Facebook. I remember seeing the small little number 1 on the bottom of my page, I had one unread message.

That’s the message that forever changed our lives. That’s the message that opened the door to our second adoption.

Fast- forward some months and we’re at a specialist. When we arrive at the specialist, both the birth mom and I, believe it’s just a routine visit, the doctors are just checking on the baby. Then a nurse walks in, smiles and says, “Okay, let’s check her brain.” Akkkaaaexcuse me. We both lost our breath for a moment and I’m sure the look on our face is what made the nurse leave and go get the doctor. You see, our birth mom was late in the game, she didn’t make her initial pregnancy visits, instead she started seeing the doctor around 7 ½ months, so … we knew something could happen, but we didn’t know what. Long story short, the doctors found nothing wrong with her brain, but that’s the appointment where they told us the baby would be big and come early, most likely around Christmas or on Christmas day.

Fast-forward a couple months and our birth mom is officially 39 weeks and a couple of days. The doctor schedules her for an appointment for the next week. Um, what? Our birth mom is beyond angry and miserable. It’s now past Christmas and no date in sight for this little gal to be born. We return the next week; she’s now 40 weeks and a couple days over due. She’s larger and more miserable. The doctor is busy so he has her meet with his nurse practioner. She’s no peach and doesn’t like the idea of inducing labor, so after some begging and almost tears, the nurse practioner and doctor schedule to induce the following week – Yep, that’s another week overdue.


So at 5 am on January 14th I meet her mom in the waiting room. Our birth mom is in the back getting checked in and we’ll be called once she’s settled in her room. An hour passes and nothing. I can tell her mom is worried and I’m trying all my Mercedes tricks to calm her down, but I’m running out of happy-go-lucky attitude.
Then two nurses walk into the waiting room and ask us to follow them. I failed to mention, but this is a new hospital and this is the first adoption they’ve ever handled. It’s beautiful and still smells new. We’re walking down the hall and finally enter her room. Our birth mom seems miserable, she’s in pain and they haven’t even started the meds to begin to induce labor. It’s about 6:40 am and two nurses walk in, they both tell us their shift ends in 20 minutes and they won’t start the meds until the next shift arrives. Around 6:50 am the nurses jog back in and I can see the look of terror on their face. They put some oxygen on our birth mom’s face and ask her to shift left and right. They walk out and about 20 minutes later they come back in and introduce the next shift nurses. These nurses will work 7-7pm and will most likely be present during birth. It’s about 8 am and the nurses rush in again, same look of terror over their faces, and again they put oxygen on our birth mom’s face. They shift her left and right. I can’t understand their codes or terminology and neither can our birth mom’s mom. So I finally ask, “what’s going on?” They look at me and look at our birth mom and say, “The baby’s heart rate is dropping.” I’m still oblivious and I feel like my mind is going 100 miles a minute. They stabilize the heart rate and leave the room. I call C and tell him what’s going on and I try not to worry him, which clearly I’m not good at. He keeps saying, “I’ll leave and head that way.” I reassure him she’s not even close to delivery, so I’ll keep in touch and let him know more when I can. The time is about 10 am and the nurses rush in again and this time the head nurse accompanies them and then another two nurses come in and each nurse has the same look of terror on their face. One nurse shouts to the head nurse, “call the doctor.” I can’t help it; I need to know what’s going on, so I walk in the hallway behind the head nurse. I ask her what’s going on. She looks at me and pauses for a long time, she knows I’m adopting this baby, so she chooses her words wisely and says, “the baby is losing oxygen and that’s not good.” I call C again and I tell him, this time he’s beyond worried and tells me to go back in and tell him play by play. The heart rate keeps dropping over the course of the next hour and again the doctor comes in and he finally determines it’s best to do an emergency csection. I’m sad for our birth mother, she didn’t want this to be her birth plan/route, but she knows the baby needs to come and quickly.

I walk out in the hallway and I called C, this time it was a little different. You see, before I walked out of the hospital room, they told us about the csection, but they also told us that only one person could go back to the surgery room with our birth mom. Her mom reached over and told her, “in the next couple of minutes you need to decide who you want to go back with you.” When I heard her say that to our birth mother, I knew, I knew it didn’t need to be me, but I was still sad. When I called C, he felt the same way. So when I got back to the room the nurses asked me to get all of my belongings and to follow them. I wasn’t sure what they meant really, but I did it anyway. We walked past every empty room, until the last room on the right, the room furthest away from our birth mom and any other patient. When we arrived, it was just me and two nurses. They told me this would be our room until we were all released and that the baby would come here in about 35 minutes. They explained that the birth mother had expressed her wishes for a closed adoption and wished to not see the baby. My heart dropped. I felt like I had lost my breath and I wasn’t able to move or speak, I just nodded. Just as I was about to sit down, C walked in. He asked me a million questions about the baby, birth mom, hospital and I just snapped. I needed a minute to take in everything, I mean in the last 30 minutes we went from an open adoption to a closed adoption, sharing a room with our birth mother to having our own secluded room I needed just a minute. About the time C and I started talking, a nurse turned the corner and entered our room with a  perfectly swaddled baby. She was all smiles and told us she was healthy and beautiful; she congratulated us and left the room.

I remember looking at Josie and feeling like I was the luckiest person in the world, like it was a dream. Then I remember looking up and seeing a hospital bed pass by slowly and seeing our birth mom’s mom and locking eyes with her. Our birth mom was just out of surgery and entering the recovery hour and the bed passed our room.

The next two days in the hospital were a little weird and tiresome. The hospital staff was great, but also very reserved and nervous. The legal situation surrounding adoption worries everyone, so with this being their first adoption, I knew they were scared of messing things up.

On Sunday night I was talking to C about our life and I told him how I felt extremely blessed. I mean it. The statistics that surround adoption, infertility issues and just births in general, is scary. It’s hard for me to grasp that two separate birth moms picked us to parent their children, that we now have 2 babies, 2 little girls that fill our days with laughs, diapers, tantrums and joy.  Not to mention, we haven’t prepared a meal since leaving the hospital,  Baby J sleeps & eats like a boss, we were gifted so much formula that Baby J will be 4 months old until we will need more, we didn’t buy a single outfit for Baby J, nor did we pay for fabulous family pictures. This is just a small list of blessings we’ve had in the last week and we are forever grateful for the generous people that surround us – our family, friends and complete strangers who have helped. Thank you to everyone who has joined together to make this journey extra sweet. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, it means more to us that you could ever imagine.




Also, if you’re reading this, I know I’ve told you in person a million times and I know we shared a special “mom” moment in the hospital, but know that your gift is something we treasure. Thank you for choosing life and thank you for choosing us. We’ll never take you for granted and you’ll always be part of our family. Thank you.

Love,
Mercedes