When Love Takes You In

I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in

And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins

When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in

I'm a HUGE fan of the Chapman family, they are considered heroes in my eyes (even prior to the recent tragedy) because of their heart for adoption and the program that they've started (Shoannah's Hope) for couples like us. When Steven Curtis wrote this song, it touched my heart on so many levels. I've always known that I would adopt at least one child, even prior to knowing about my infertility issues. So when I hear a song like this, it just affirms it in my spirit even more. I'm so excited about the possibilities of sharing my life and love with children around the world that so desperately need to belong. I hope the journey begins soon!

Secrets and Opportunities

Okay, there are two things that I'm going to admit to today that I don't think I've ever told anyone before.

As much as I know I shouldn't, I very much want to get a tattoo of a little butterfly on my hip. I know, it's CRAZY! I've always done the grandmother test on myself and agreed with the outcome (that I cannot see myself as the kind of grandmother with a tattoo). Maybe it's the nearness of summer approaching, or the adrenaline that rushes through me when I listen to Jason Mraz's song called "Butterfly", but it's definitely something that I now find myself desiring. I have some great friends (and family) with tats and I just think that they are SO cool. If I got a butterfly tattoo, what do you think it would say about me? hmm . . .

Secondly, I've always loved the British culture and language. There's something about it that is jut so fascinating to me. I watch all the British sitcoms on PBS and never turn down a British film when in theatres. I've recently discovered, while reading the book "Confessions of a Shopaholic" that I unconsciously read aloud in a British accent :) Sophie Kinsella (author) is British herself, which is why I probably relate the two, but when I open my mouth, I take on the character of Rebecca Bloomwood and am no longer plain, boring, American Melody Harrell (giggle, giggle).

I thought it was time that I shared these two secrets. I think they're kind of funny and maybe it gives you better insight into all my complexities :)

Recently, I was reunited with the public library! How did I ever forget that it existed! I guess it was all too easy to just order a book on Amazon and have it forever (which I probably didn't need for that long to begin with). Wednesday, I took a little drive to our fair library, located in quaint little downtown Concord. I love downtown Concord. It has some of the cutest shops ever! Antiques, bakeries, boutiques, bistro's,, creameries (mmm), art galleries, library, and a tea shop - what more could you ask for? PLUS, it's located in the heart of the historic district, so you're surrounded by gorgeous turn-of-the-century homes and gardens. Did I mention that I LOVE it there?! The weather has been so idyllic this week that it seems as if it was just calling my name, inviting me to take a stroll along its cultured and ancient sidewalks. How could I resist? :)

First stop - Public Library. New library card (check!), new DVD to watch (check!), new CD to listen to in the car (check!), and a new book on order (check!). Mission accomplished! 3 types of entertainment all at my disposal for FREE! Whoohoo!!!

I begin my walk down Union Street. First I pass one of my favorite boutiques that sells all things polka dots, striped, and girly! Then I pass The Bead Lady, a quaint little shop where you can create your own jewelry. One day I'll get to that . . . :) As I cross the street, I am stopped by a sign hanging right in front of my eyes. It says "Audrey's Once Upon A Time Boutique" - Audrey's baby boutique. OMIGOSH! I immediately called Chris and shared what I had found. This was all too exciting to me for 2 reasons: 1. It was named after a woman with the name of Audrey, and 2. it was a baby boutique. Kind of obvious, I realize, but the thing is, when God does decide to bless us with a baby girl, we will name her Audrey (after the classic Ms. Hepburn). This isn't a name you see very often anymore, so it's very sacred to us. Also, as I've shared in the past, I dabble in hand making baby items. So you see, this place was so neat to find b/c of those two parts of my life combined into one. I laughingly told Chris that it was a "sign" - lol, whatever that means! I walked inside the store, had a look around, then I met Audrey. She was super nice, very friendly. We talked for a few minutes. She shared with me that she was named after Audrey Hepburn as well and that she has 2 sons which took her 4 years to conceive. I already feel a connection with this woman, when on my way out I notice some familiar fabric on a shelf. She explained to me that she has hired a woman in the community to hand make baby items for her to sell in her store. So, yesterday I sent Ms. Audrey an email with my "Homemade Baby Items" portfolio (if you will), and asked her to take a look and me know if she would ever be interested in displaying any of my inventory in her store as well. I'm still waiting to hear back, but it was fun just putting my stuff (and myself) out there to see what happens. I'll keep you posted :)

In the meantime, listen to "Butterfly" by Jason Mraz - it'll open the door to you into my secret world :)

Old Skool Music

Today I was adding new music to my playlist (on the right side of the page). The more new music I added, the more old music I remembered and I got SO excited! Now, don't be discouraged by the new "old" music, I realize that it may not necessarily match who I am now, but many of the old skool tunes remind me of my life as a dancer (many years ago). I used to have so much fun choreographing and dancing to this music - it was fun, it was upbeat, it was hoppin'! Even though I'm not dancing anymore, every now and then the mood still strikes, and while Chris is at work and I'm home alone, I often put on an impromptu dance recital in my house (usually while I'm cleaning). It motivates me to keep going, as cleaning itself can get a little boring after a while :) Hope you enjoy the new "old skool" classics!

Dancing With God

"When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God", "u", "i", and "dance."
God, you, and I dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life."

Our Church

Below is a short clip of our Church's worship service. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful Music Pastor! Thanks for all you do, Jason!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=237571

BIG Time Savings

In light of this week's events, I am trying to be more cost effective and save as much as possible wherever possible. So I pulled out the weekly grocery circulars and made a list of all the buy one get one free items (the relevant items at least). I began at Lowe's Foods, then went on to Food Lion, and finally ended at Harris Teeter. I know what you're thinking - that it must have taken much longer to go to 3 different grocery stores. Well, the minor inconvenience was well worth the hassle. I spent $99 on our groceries (which cut our budget in Half ALREADY) and saved $90!!!!! I think I got an entire month's worth of some items. Several things were buy one get two or three free! How can you turn that down!!! I'm so pleased with all my savings! YAY!

Living the Dream . . .

I think it suits me . . . yes? :)

"I Would Just Like to Thank . . . "

I would just like to begin my day by publicly thanking the Lord for the people that He has purposely placed in my life for specific seasons such as the one we have been going through for the last 3 ½ years. While I know that I have numerous friends and family who are constantly praying on our behalf, I’d like to point out two individuals specifically who have overwhelmed me with their love and support throughout this process.

First, there’s my big sister, Harmony, who never ceases to amaze me. She has always been my best friend, even through times when we’ve been far away from each other (both physically and emotionally). But as we’ve grown into adults and began our lives as wives and mothers (obviously only on her end there), she has become my strength, my confidant, my prayer warrior, my encourager, and an amazing example of how to live a life of service and faithfulness to our God. Almost daily she will send scripture, cards, gifts, and reminders of her love as a means to uplift my spirit and reiterate that I am not alone in this process. One thing that speaks to me the most is that even though we live in 2 different states, separated by 7 hours in between, she has never allowed that to be an excuse or reason to not be there for me every time I need her (and even during those times when I don’t realize how much I need her). She has proven her dedication to me relentlessly, and for that I am humbled and most grateful.

Secondly, there’s my sweet and dear friend, Kelly. Having only met Kelly and her husband Rob a short while ago, they have moved in like a freight train in our life and we have been changed for the better as a result of it. I have found throughout my 27 years of life on this earth that true and genuine friends are very difficult to come by. For the most part, people are always looking for ways that their life can be enhanced by your presence in it – and not in the best ways. However, Kelly has proven to me that there are still people out there who genuinely care for others with no expectations of anything in return. Not only is she super fun to be with, but she is constantly caring for me and loving me in ways that I haven’t felt from friends in a very long time. Just this morning she sent me an email that brought me to tears explaining how she feels led to begin fasting in prayer for Chris and I until our last round of treatment. She has vowed to give up all sweets so that when a craving or temptation comes she will begin to pray for our future family instead. What an amazing sacrifice! I don’t know what I could have possibly done to merit such a friend, but my life has truly changed because of her and the example that she is to me.

It goes without saying that we feel more than blessed by these women (and others) in our life. We cannot thank God enough for surrounding us with these dear people during the most difficult season in our life thus far. What we can do is continue to praise God for them daily and show them that they are just as important to us as we are to them and that we intend to do our part to deserve such sweet and wonderful friendship.

We love you so much and thank our God every time we remember you! (Phil 1:3)

Is "Ballsy" Appropriate Language for a Church to Use?

So, a few months ago, a local church (Kinetic Church) had some valuables stolen. And as a means of contacting the thief at large, they decided to post billboards along I-85. What astonishes me the most are two things: 1 - the language used on the billboards, and 2 - that they used God's money to do this. After investigating further, I read that not only are they using money that should be distributed more wisely to further God's kingdom, but they have a "Billboard Fund" program set up where people are constantly pouring money into this cause (both physically and through their website). Does this sound crazy to anyone else??? Can we not think of better ways to use God's money??? Like, oh I don't know, missions? local underprivileged communities? 3rd world countries? This whole thing seems utterly ridiculous to me. I added some pictures below. Check them and let me know what you think. If I were a lost soul, I certainly wouldn't look to a church who posts the word "ballsy" on a billboard for moral direction.

Nicholas Sparks

So, as most of you are aware, I am a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan. His novels speak to me in ways the reach my innermost thoughts and it's such a beautiful thing! I'm about to wrap up his latest novel, The Choice, and it's amazing - I would've expected nothing less. I just recently discovered that he has a website as well (www.nicholassparks.com) with all kinds of wonderful information about the author, the novels, works that have been turned into featured films, etc. I'm so excited to explore all of this and learn more about him and what inspires his stories.

If you've never read a novel by Nicholas Sparks before, I recommend starting with The Notebook first. It's my favorite! :)

Happy reading!

I DID IT!

So, I finally bit the bullet and took the bus to work! My first trip was on Wednesday. It was great, I really liked it! I was very nervous at first, there's a lot to be concerned about when riding a city bus. But, inevitably, all my apprehensions were put to rest after that first ride in on wednesday morning. Sure, there's some scheduling issues that will need to be worked out, but ultimately, it's still nice being chauffered between home and work everyday!

There are 2 things that I really want to do: 1) learn sign language and 2) speak fluent French. Now, I dabbled with both when I was in high school, but I haven't done much of either of them since then. Th problem is, where can I find the time to learn both languages? Moreover, where can I go that will teach me for free? Sometimes the local YMCA will teach classes like these . . . I will need to investigate further. I've also decided to look more seriously at the local transportation system within our fair city. Charlotte has many city buses and a tram system that provides public transportation to almost anywhere in the Queen City. Since we are temporarily operating off of one salary, it is imperative that we cut costs wherever possible. For the last month, Chris has been dropping me off and pickng me up from work (as we are currently down to only one vehicle in the family). This has been such a treat and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have him do this for me! However, the trip is rather far and we're using twice as much gas as before. On a normal day, it's a 45 minutte trip from our house (in Concord) to Uptown Charlotte. But if there's an accident or construction, it can take up to 1 1/2 hours just to get to work. Then, once I finally get to Uptown, I have to park 6 blocks away from the office and walk almost a mile (in all weather conditions) just to get into my building. There's a good reason for this . . . the waiting list for a parking spot for all business professionals who work uptown is 2 years or more, not to mention a monthly fee of at least $100 just to park your car all day. So, in protest, I park in a little cement lot 6 blocks outside of the city that only costs $75/mo and is currently available to me now. The sacrifices we make!!! I can't complain too much, though - the walk to and from work is rather nice (not because it's such a beautiful atmosphere - far from it, actually - but because of the excercise it adds to my otherwise too busy schedule to excercise! So, in essence, if I take the bus from Concord to work everyday, automatically we will save money on gas and parking. It will still be somewhere around $100/mo to ride the bus (since it's dual-county), but we'll be saving hundreds in gas/parking - so it must be worth it, right? It's so frickin' expensive to live in Charlotte!!! I'm beyond ready to move back to Raleigh where life is slower and more affordable (though growing less and less everyday according to my dad).

Yesterday I began our Spring cleaning! I love when this time of year comes around - though it would have been a tremendous motivator if the weather actually felt like Spring yesterday! I began with cleaning out and re-organizing all the cabinets/drawers in our house. What a feat! It's amazing how much stuff you can collect and stash in inconspicuous places, then forget that you put it there, only to find it a year later in your spring cleaning! I threw out a bunch of old stuff and it feels so good!!! I LOVE to clean - it's very therapeutic for me - and I've needed a lot of "therapy" lately! :)

Happy Spring!!!

21 Rules To Live By . . .

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

4. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

5. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.

6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

7. Believe in love at first sight.

8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don't judge people by their relatives.

12. Talk slowly but think quickly.

13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

15. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

19. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

21. Spend some time alone.

I thought this was very funny. This cartoon was in the April edition of Harvard Business Review.

Where I spend all day . . . every day . . . Beautiful Uptown Charlotte

My Office Building - 14th Floor

Work

well, I'm transitioning once again. The Partners of our firm are trying to make a distinct separation of the production side of work (engineers, designers, architects) vs. the corporate side of work (CFO, Managing Principals, Marketing, Accounting, IT, etc.). Since I work primarily for corporate (with a litle bit of production still), they have decided to move me over to corporate full-time. So, now, I will be executively assisting the 3 managing partners, the CFO, the Firm Administrator/HR Manager, the IT director, the Director of Engineering and the Director of Landscape Architecture. Needless to say, it is very busy and I'm not too thrilled about the change. But, hopefully, the Lord will change my attitude about working for these new people and I will continue to love where He has brought me for now.

Oh my goodness . . . it has been SO long since I last updated this blog! What can I say, there's just not enough time in the day anymore! Chris and I are doing very well. As usual, staying very busy. Chris is wrapping up several large projects at work and will hopefully begin the new year with a more sensible schedule. He has been promised no more than 3 houses at a time and that should keep him well-balanced for now. I know that 3 houses doesn't sound like much, but when you're managing the building of a house from start to finish, it's really more that one person can handle at any given time. Believe it or not, he's been managing 3 houses plus 3 large projects (mostly additions/renovations to current homes) for the last 6 months - hence the reason he hasn't been around too much. But with this new promise should come a new schedule and for that we are grateful! Mel is keeping rather busy herself. As if supporting the 3 managing partners/HR Adminstrator/Residential Team of her firm isn't enough to keep her busy, she is also doing a lot of party planning (on the side) and maintaining her role as the Fellowship Coordinator for our Sunday School Class (check it out at http://hartsellnewlyweds.blogspot.com/). Not to mention the two dogs she has to take care of everyday as well. They really are like children. Autumn, who is now 3 1/2 years old, is pretty self-sufficient. But Sadie, who is only 10 months old, is a puppy in every way. It's a full-time job just keeping up with her . . . . making sure she's not chewing up something or eating Autumn's food or going potty in the house. Her latest conquests have been chewing up Melody's glasses, fighting with her sister and pooping on the new white duvet in our bedroom. But, she's still just as sweet and loveable as ever and we can't deny that we absolutely adore her! In terms of expanding our family in a more traditional sense, we will soon have to make the choice between moving forward with injections or adoption. It's a big decision with many pro's and con's to both, so, any prayers are much appreciated! I'll try my best to update this as much as possible from here on out - I just need to make the time I guess. In the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful and very happy new year in 2008!

New Promotion

So, although I just accepted a promotion a few weeks ago. this week I was offered a new one! I officially accepted the position on Wednesday and moved in to my new office on Thursday. My new title is now the Executive Assistant to the Managing Partners of ColeJenest and Stone, P.A. I will be assisting all 3 partners, the HR Manager, and still maintain one team (Residential/Commercial) for now. If this proves to be too much then I will have to let my team go - however, hopefully, I'll be able to handle it all. I'll stay crazy busy - but it makes the work day go by faster :) I really do enjoy my job and I'm very pleased with my promotion. I've only been at CJS for 13 months and I've manager to work myself up from the receptionist to the Executive Assistant's position (which is the highest level of promotion I can achieve with this firm). Wish me luck . . . pics from the new office are forthcoming . . .

Becoming Jane - Official Trailer

my absolute most favorite new movie! A MUST-SEE!!!