Let's Go 'Necks!

Yes, that's another football cheer which means another football weekend for the Casey's. This weekend, we traveled again, but this time to Macomb for WIU Homecoming. Last year, we went to a WIU football game and met some of our college friends for the day. We decided we liked it so much we would make it an annual tradition. This time, we left our kiddos at home and had some adult time. It was such a great day!

Friday after school, we made our way to Macomb to meet the Windham's. Sarah hooked us up to stay at the local Christian camp (that we had many retreats at) for the night at the low, low cost of FREE! Not only was that a huge perk, it was great to relax and hang out with the Windham's and we all got to sleep in the next day because we didn't have kids.

Saturday morning, we drove back to Macomb to meet the Gorsch's and the Knopp's for a fun-filled WIU day. It was homecoming, so our day started off with the parade. It was quite comical at times and there were many laughs already happening. After the parade, we went to one of the yummy local eateries (Rocky's) for lunch. We had a great time and as we were leaving, Luke said something about hoping it wasn't cold and rainy out. Well, that must have jinxed us because that was exactly what was going on. Bummer! And I thought it would be nice to pre-order tickets so we were all a little hesitant to watch some football.

Before heading to the game, we hit up the bookstore for some new Leatherneck gear and made our way (in the rain) down to the stadium. Needless to say, we didn't make it the whole game. The girls made it just over a quarter before we retreated to the Union to chit-chat. The guys stayed through the half and then came and picked us up. Even though it was early, we went to our FAVORITE pizza place, Auerilo's, for some dinner. We sat and visited and ate lots of yummy food before deciding it was time to get going. We went back to the campus house to get our cars and said our good byes.

The only group picture is on another camera, but here is Hannah sporting her new Leatherneck T-Shirt: This is definitely something that will be a yearly tradition with our amazing college friends. We love you all so much and are so thankful to be a part of your lives! Let's go 'Necks!

Go Pack Go!

What an exciting day for the Casey's! Today, Tim and I had the awesome opportunity to go the Lambeau Field for a Green Bay Packer's game! This was my first time to experience this and it was really fun! Let me back up a bit...

Last winter, Tim bought tickets online for a Green Bay game and went with his dad, brother-in-law Kyle and Kyle's brother Ryan. It was a very cold, Monday night game in December. Tim made a whirlwind trip up and back which included overnight transportation and some long days. But, it was all worth it for him to experience his first-ever Packer game.

Fast forward a bit...this summer, a family at church offered Tim two tickets to a game as a thank you for working with their daughter the last few years (she was a varsity basketball player at OTHS). Tim was so stoked and wanted us both to go if possible. I told him I would love to go but preferably a game when it wasn't super cold. We gave the guy a few options and he gave us this game. We've been looking forward to it for quite sometime. Here we are at the game:
We took advantage of our trip up north to spend some time with family too. We left Friday after school and drove to Nikki & Kyle's where Ken & Delaine were already there. We had a lot of fun spending time as a family on Saturday. That night after Hannah went to bed, we watched a movie (the first in a long time for us). Sunday morning, Tim & I got up early to get ready to head to Green Bay (it's about two hours from Lake Mills). Uncle Kyle & Aunt Nikki loved spending the day with Hannah while we were at the game. After the Packer's won, we headed back to pick up Hannah and then made the long trek back to Illinois.

It was a wild and crazy weekend, but worth every minute of it! Hopefully this won't be our only Packer game!

A is for Apple

After church, we met some friends (and our former neighbors) the Scaiefe's at a local orchard, Eckert's. Apple picking is in it's prime and we wanted to take advantage of a beautiful day to be outside. We decided to do the whole she-bang and pick our own apples. Before we headed out, we got a few shots of Hannah and Liam. They were pretty cute sitting on this bench together.We started on a tractor ride out to where we were picking that day. Here is Tim & Hannah on our way out to the apples.Hannah had a fun time with all the apples she found. She preferred to pick them off of the ground, but we were able to coax her into trying to pull a couple off of the tree.

We each had an apple out in the orchard and we tried to give Hannah some bites too. She wasn't too interested in eating the fresh, yummy apples, however she did eat a bite or two.We also got a family shot before we left the apple orchard.

We had a lot of fun with John, Kelli & Liam at Eckert's! We can't wait to take Hannah back next month to go pumpkin picking!

Our BIG Girl

Lately, it seems like everything Hannah does reminds me more and more of what a big girl she is getting to be! We are just a few months shy of planning and celebrating Hannah's 2nd birthday. Here are some highlights of some of Hannah's latest "big girl" accomplishments:

*We've been practicing using the potty before bathtime each night. We've had a few successful attempts, but most of the time we just sit and practice. I think Hannah is getting more and more aware of what may be going on so I think we may give it a real go over Christmas break.

Hannah LOVES to be outside! Every day after school we play outside until dinner and then usually go back out until it's time for a bath. One of Hannah's favorite things to do outside is to walk the dogs. Sometimes her little legs have to move pretty quickly to keep up with the "boys" but rarely will she stop walking them!
*Speaking of outside, when we were at the park recently Hannah really enjoyed swinging on the big swing by herself. She has always enjoyed swinging, but she seemed so big on the big girl swing!*Sometimes it's the little things that make her look so big. A few weeks ago we got Hannah her first pair of Crocs. Also, her hair is getting so long. When we put it up in pig tails our little toddler looks pretty big!
*This weekend, we also started transitioning her to a "big girl" bed. We converted her crib to a toddler bed and she has done so great! Both Saturday morning and when her Saturday nap ended, she got up on her own. However, we told her she needed to stay in bed until we came and got her and she has stayed there until that time ever since. We are going to keep working on her room and get it completed with a big girl twin bed, new paint and new bedding when Nana visits in October.

Playing in the Park

We took in some of the beautiful weather over the Labor Day weekend. Sunday evening, we took a family bike ride to the local park. Hannah loves the bike trailer and really loved playing in the park. When we were finished playing, we took the long way home to extend our bike ride. It was such a beautiful evening and we really enjoyed spending the time together as a family. Swinging with Daddy Climbing up the slide... going back down... and up one more time. It was definitely a highlight of the trip to the park!

A New Journey

(Our current family of three!)

We want to share with our friends & family some exciting news -- we have decided to expand our family through adoption! Adoption is something that Tim has always thought about doing and he started talking about it early in our marriage. While trying to conceive Hannah, I came to terms with possibly not having a child of my own and knowing that adoption would be a wonderful way to have children. Shortly after that conversation with myself and God, we got pregnant with Hannah. I feel so blessed that I was able to have a biological child. Hannah is such a joy and we love being her parents.

After what we went through to be able to conceive her, I always told myself if we couldn't do it naturally the next time, we'd look into adoption. Last winter, we decided to give it another chance and started the same fertility treatment again this past spring in hopes to be able to conceive again. This summer, we went through the very hard experience of an ectopic pregnancy and losing the baby we were so hopeful for. It didn't take long to know that I did not want to go through that again. I knew from talking to my doctor that you can get pregnant again with one fallopian tube, however, Tim and I had set our limits as to far we would go with fertility treatments and I vaguely knew what would potentially need to happen to conceive on our own again. It did not sound appealing at all.

During this healing, I knew without a doubt that we should start looking into adoption. When I first told Tim, I think he was worried that I was "giving up" too soon, but as we talked through this, I told him I had this indescribable peace about the whole situation. At that point, I was 100% sure that I was fine if I was never pregnant again or carried my own child. God had brought me through the hardship of the ectopic pregnancy every step of the way and in my heart I know this is what He wants for our family. I felt like what we went through this summer was a big sign from God saying "This is how I want you to add to your family." I can't explain it exactly, but I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. The peace I've felt from the time I found out about the ectopic until we made this decision is truly life-changing. God has been in control through this whole thing.

So, we started working right away. It is amazing to see the door's God has opened for us along the way confirming that this is exactly what He has in His plan for our family! We first decided on domestic infant adoption and contacted a national agency called Bethany Christian Services. In July, we went to an informational meeting about adoption in general and felt right at home with this agency. We filled out our formal application and got the process started. At the beginning of August, we went to a mandatory all day training that had to be completed before we could complete our homestudy. They only offer it once every three months so we are so thankful to be able to complete it when we did. At the same time, we got our homestudy packet and have been working on it ever since. Currently, we are just a few documents away from sending in the last of our paperwork. Once that is done, we will have a few visits with our social worker and then our homestudy will be complete! At that time, the official waiting begins.

We are so excited about this journey we are on! God continues to bless our little family and we know there is a baby out there for us. We can't wait to have him or her in our family! Please pray for us as we continue on this path. We have the most fabulous friends and family who have always supported us. Thank you for your continued interest and support in our lives and for the prayers that will be lifted up during this exciting time in our life! We will keep everyone posted as we continue.