Surgery was a SUCCESS!

Chris' umbilical hernia surgery went very smoothly. The hernia was smaller than they originally thought so they ended up just sewing it up instead of inserting the mesh. Chris did well under the anesthetic and was pretty well drugged most of the day yesterday. They gave him Darvocet so outside of being sore, he's feeling pretty good.

After surgery yesterday, the brought me back with Chris' mom to chat with him while he was in recovery. When they decided it was time to discharge him, they gave me his clothes and told me to help him get dressed. It CRACKED me up. Partially because I felt like I was doing something wrong being asked to dress my husband in front of his mom (I didn't dress him in front of his mom, just asked to dress him...ha!) and partially because it's EXACTLY what I expect our lives to be like in about 60 years. Me helping my husband put his drawers on every day...HILARIOUS!

My mom and dad are heading to Dallas as we speak (or type...whateva) and should be here in a few hours. I'm sure it will be an eventful week with Steve and Debbi =)

Two end of November prayer requests

Alright ya'll. Chris and I are in need of your prayers. Lots going on at the end of November.

About 6 months ago, my ultra competitive husband went mountain biking with some guys. My husband....not a mountain biker. He doesn't have a mountain bike so he used on of the guys old, beat up bikes. After a few hours of riding, he came home, about to die. He, of course, wanted to hang with the guys that actually ARE mountain bikers so pushed himself till near death. A few days later, a little lump appeared on his belly button. Yup. Umbilical hernia. So Chris decided to schedule his surgery for Thanksgiving so he would have the time to heal while off work. Alas, the time is here. Chris goes into surgery Monday morning. It's a minor day surgery but my husband has never had surgery. Pray that everything goes well.

Prayer request number 2. We're going to see another infertility specialist November 30th. We've been to one and just didn't feel good about it. She immediately wanted to start injections and IUI's without really checking anything out. I'm not exactly comfortable with pumping my body full of hormones without knowing exactly what is going on with us (we still fall under the "Unexplained Infertility" category). A girl I work with has been trying SEVEN years, went to this fertility doctor, and got pregnant on Clomid and an IUI. For those of you who are not well versed in infertility talk, that costs about $2,500 less than the injections our first doctor wanted us to do. I'm not expecting for that exactly to happen to us but it's comforting to know that her doctor didn't automatically ask her to do the high ticket treatments. All this to say, we're going to her doctor. I'm hopeful and praying that the Lord is planning on giving us our miracle soon. Please be praying for guidance and comfort for us during the next few months as we are working with this new doctor.

A Visit from Costello and Microwave Explosion

One of Chris' old roommates and best of friends, Costello, was in town from Nashville this weekend. Holy moly have we missed that guy. He is the king of randomness and made us laugh SO hard. Here's a few things he did that made me crack up (hopefully these will be funny even if you weren't there)-

• He tells us that one Sunday at church, a girl standing next to him randomly started holding his hand during worship. He freaked out....does that really happen????

• He told us a guy gave him a bed because he's had the same one since college (with no box spring, laying on the ground). We asked why he doesn't just buy a bed and he said "because I don't know how big my wife is going to be!" HA!

• He's laying on the floor and randomly says "I can be a piece of bacon." Then he proceeds to CONVULSE on the ground like he's having a seizure. He said it's similar to bacon hopping around in a frying pan. After he was finished with his seizure, he sits up and says "it looks much better without my shirt on." Weird....

Speaking of bacon...I had Chris' family over for dinner to celebrate his mom and dad's birthdays. I thought it would be really fun to make each make our own little homemade pizza (and it was!) so I chopped, drained, and cooked all the toppings. I put some bacon in the microwave on a ceramic plate and BAM! The entire plate EXPLODED in my microwave. I'm talking shattered into a thousand pieces. I have no idea how it didn't damage the microwave but the only casualties were the plate and the bacon. Weird.

One more week of school and then off for a WHOLE WEEK! I'm doing a Thanksgiving play with my 3rd graders for their parents Friday...pray I can make it until then. Planning a play with 8 year old kiddos might give me a mental breakdown! HA! They're so excited which is awesome...hopefully it goes well!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary, House!

Today we have lived in our house for 2 years. CRAZY! I remember being so excited while they were building it...we would drive by nearly everyday to see what was going on. We've loved being home owners-even mowing the lawn has been a fun, new adventure for us (ok, mostly Chris. I've mowed the lawn twice). I'm so thankful for our home and all the memories we have in it.

All about the Crowder's

I haven nothing much to say but I actually have TIME to blog so here's a little survey I stole from my friend, Lindsey's blog. Enjoy getting to know "The Crowder's."

♥What are your middle names?
Renee and Carroll. Guess which is mine and his.

♥How long have you been together?
Married for almost 4...together for almost 7.

♥How long did you know each other before you started dating?
A couple of weeks.

♥Who asked who out?
Chris asked me.

♥Who made the first move?
Chris. Definitely moved in for the kiss after I ate Taco Bell. I'm sure that was tasty.

♥How old are each of you?
I'm 26, he's 28.

♥Did you go to the same school?
The same college.

♥Are you from the same home town?
Nope. I'm from St. Louis, he's from Dallas.

♥Who is the smartest?
That's not a very nice question! We're both smart in different ways. He's a GENIUS when it comes to money and I'm an idiot. We're just different =)

♥Who majored in what?
Me, elem. education. Chris, Kinesiology/Health Science.

♥Who is the most sensitive?
Me FOR SURE. I'm ultra sensitive!

♥Where do you eat out most as a couple?
It use to be Corner Bakery but we hardly ever get to eat TOGETHER now that we're in football season.

♥Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Probably Mexico. Or California. Mexico isn't that far from Texas.

♥Who has the worst temper?
Me. Not good.

♥How many children do you want?
As many as God gives us. I'm hoping that's at least one.

♥Who does the cooking?
Me. Poor Chris can hardly boil water.

♥Who is more social?
We're both pretty social but Chris is a little more than me.

♥Who is the neat-freak?
Me. Chris has no problem being messy.

♥Who is the most stubborn?
Chris. I'm pretty stubborn myself though.

♥Who wakes up earlier?
Me. Not fun. at. all.

♥Where was your first date?
We went to see the movie Signs. Super romantic, huh?

♥Who has the bigger family?
Me. By about a thousand people.

♥Do you get flowers often?
No and I'm not complaining. I would rather have a Starbucks or a little present than flowers.

♥How do you spend the holidays?
We split. If he gets Thanksgiving, I get Christmas. If I get Christmas, he gets Thanksgiving.

♥Who is more jealous?
Neither of us are very jealous people.

♥Who eats more?
Chris. But don't be deceived, I can put some food AWAY!

♥What do you do for a living?
I teach third grade. Chris teaches Inclusion and coaches football/baseball.

♥Who does the laundry?
We share it. But mostly me.

♥Who’s better with the computer?
Me. Chris could care less about electronics.

♥Who drives when you are together?
Chris. Even though I'm usually scared for my life and am a TERRIBLE backseat driver.

♥What is "your" song?
No song. We danced out of our wedding to "Everlasting Love" which was pretty fun. I think that officially just became our song.

Now you know everything you never really needed to know about us. You are SO very welcome.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Here's how our spelling test went down Friday morning-

Me: Boys and girls, remember our spelling words have an "ow" or "ou" pattern in them. If you don't have an "ow" or "ou" in your word, it's going to be wrong.

Sweet little TEXAS boy: Don't you say "OU" to me...I'm a Longhorns' fan!

I COULD NOT hold it together after that. Only in Texas!

2 years of infertility

I was reminded quite a bit this past weekend about us still not being pregnant. I very rarely check my email at home but I checked it randomly on Sunday morning. Apparently I signed up when I found out I was pregnant on some website that tells you what's going on with the baby/your body and received an email from them. The email title was "Today you're 32 weeks." I lost it. I would be having showers, the nursery would be set up, I would know the sex. I have done SO well at giving that to God but I feel like grabbing it back now, ya know?

I have a friend who has been trying to get pregnant for as long as we have (did I mention this month is our 2 year anniversary of trying?). She is 35 and getting very impatient. This month they did IVF and found out this weekend that she is pregnant (not blood test confirmed yet but positives on 5 HPTs). I was SO happy for her I cried. I've never been so happy for another person in my life. Then the bitterness and greed set in. I now have no one on this journey with me. I HATE being that way because she is my friend and I'm SO happy for her but I want it so badly for myself. The longer I struggle with infertility, the more I see my sinful nature.

After the kids left today, I put my ipod on. A song came on and IMMEDIATELY sent me into tears. It's exactly how I feel about my sinful nature and why God allows us to go through these things. I thought I would post it...maybe it will help you where you are at too.

Let it all out
get it all out
rip it out remove it
don't be alarmed
when the wound begins to bleed

cause we're so scared to find out
what this life's all about
so scared we're going to lose it
not knowing all along
that's exactly what we need

and today I will trust you with the confidence
of a man who's never known defeat
but tomorrow, upon hearing what I did
I will stare at you in disbelief
oh, inconsistent me
crying out for consistency

and you said I know that this will hurt
but if I don't break your heart then things will just get worse
If the burden seems too much to bear
Remember the end will justify the pain it took to get us there

and I'll let it be known
at times I have shown
signs of all my weakness
but somewhere in me
there is strength

and you promise me
that you believe
in time I will defeat this
cause somewhere in me
there is strength

and today I will trust you with the confidence
of a man who's never known defeat
and I'll try my best to just forget
that that man isn't me

reach out to me
make my heart brand new
every beat will be for you
for you

and I know you know
you touched my life
when you touched my heavy heart and made it light