Thankful

So much to be thankful for in the last 24 hours!

For starters, I got to FaceTime with Rach yesterday for a long time! It was so fun to catch up with her and here how she has been doing! I love that girl like crazy and am so proud of the young lady that she is! Her thoughtfulness, honesty, and love of nature are just a few of the things I respect about her and that make her special! Such a cool person, and it made my day to talk with her!

I also have to say that I'm super proud of Alli who had her 3rd competitive gymnastics meet yesterday and earned 3 Blues (top ribbon) and 1 Red (2nd highest). While it's awesome that she did so well, I'm mostly proud of her because from what I've been told, Alli has FUN through gymnastics and she has steadily improved because of her attention to the sport! It was so cool to see the pic Karen sent and see that beautiful smile on Alli's face showing her accomplishment!

On another awesome note, Lena and Wessam FINALLY got to meet precious Avala! Born at 11:11pm on January 28! So happy for them and can't wait to see pictures!! Many people were lifting their family up in prayer, and the Lord answered our prayers for a healthy baby, healthy mom and natural delivery! He is so good and I think I've thanked Him a thousand times for listening to the desires of Lena's heart with this process!

Also thankful that I got to start my morning out relaxing with Jon and listening to an incredible sermon online from Ada Bible on humility. We can't wait to listen to the 2 other parts of the Character series, and are grateful for the reminder of what it means to live and serve humbly! I highly recommend this message to anybody who finds himself struggling with pride from time to time - you can get it at www.adabible.org, click on media player, click on "Character" under the sermons list, and you're ready to go! What we love about Ada's online sermons is that you can watch the video OR listen!

Finally - we are LOVING all this sunshine and warm weather! Today is supposed to be near 60 and it looks like our week will be pretty similar! WE'll be spending time outdoors today for sure!

Financial Milestone

I debated this morning about how to best share and how deeply to share about a big milestone Jon and I reached this morning. After talking with Jon a bit about it, I decided to go ahead and share! Today, January 28, just 10 days shy of being married 19 months, we have paid off $20,600 of debt since May 2010!!! So, I guess the purpose of this post is to express our gratitude and to potentially motivate others!

Part of me just can't believe it, but mostly, I'm just so grateful! So grateful mainly to the Lord! He has been our guide, our motivation, our strength in our marriage and very much so in how we've moved forward with our finances! For the first 15 months of our marriage, Jon and I lived solely on my income while he worked hard to finish grad school. Those first months we learned how to just give it up to the Lord and trust him. Trust Him to guide us in how to merge our debt and get and stay on the same page with our spending. Thankfully, Jon and I have the same financial goals and are similar in our spending. However, I'm much more of what Dave Ramsey would call a "NERD" and Jon a "FREE SPIRIT" with money :) These differences have helped us each to grow and appreciate each other and to strengthen our financial situation. It was hard to fully trust at times that all of our bills would be met, but there has not been even once when the Lord has not provided! He is so GOOD!!! God turned a car accident that totaled our best car into an opportunity to eliminate a car payment and pay cash for a used car! He used our move to Kansas to lower our expenses, found us a GREAT tenant in GR, and work towards more financial goals! He led us each to new positions that allow us to continue to live off of one income, while using the other to tackle debt and prepare for baby! Again, God is so good!!

Obviously, I'm grateful to Jon because he's been my partner in this! We've grown so much through this experience, not only in how we budget and plan, but also in having a clear sense of what we want for our family in the long run! We've learned to live on less than we make, to not use credit cards or incur new debt, how to compromise, how to communicate more effectively in many areas of our marriage, to delay gratification and work towards a purchase, etc., etc.! Words really can't express how thankful I am for such an awesome husband and these life lessons from the very beginning of our marriage!

We're also extremely blessed to have such awesome parents, family and friends who have helped us reach this milestone. Jon and I haven't accomplished this milestone alone - we never could have! We reached this marker only because of the support we've received through amazing people in our lives! From wedding gifts, birthday money, a little extra here and there - we've done our best to thoughtfully use all of it! Thank you, THANK YOU for the generosity that you've each extended to us! In my mind, this is as much your celebration as it is ours because you contributed to it!

We also definitely have to give credit to Dave Ramsey's ministry! I've been a DR Fan for a long time! Jon and I started our first Financial Peace University class while we were engaged, but we dropped out half way through lol! We didn't stop going because we weren't interested though! We stopped because it was weeks before our wedding, I was traveling a lot for work, and it was at 8am on Sunday morning :) We started another FPU class a few weeks after our wedding, and had such an awesome experience with the leaders and group! It really helped us to get motivated! We've since kept up with the concepts, tweaked a bit here and there, and are going to start another class on February 5th! We strongly recommend his teaching to any and all!! (I'm listening online right now to Dave haha!). For us, two of the most effective teachings from Dave at this point have been 1 - doing and STICKING to a monthly budget; 2 - CASH ENVELOPES! Talk about teaching us discipline! They've been great tools!

We still have a lot of progress to make with our student loans, but are SO PUMPED to be where we are today!!

Lazy Day Sunday

Minus that fact that we missed church this morning (no worries, we'll catch an Ada sermon online this afternoon; we sure miss that church!) and the wind is already blowing like crazy, today is off to a great start! Jon got to sleep in a bit, which he loves, and we're seeing Dad, Tyson and Kathy this afternoon! SO - I've been up all morning catching up on chores, making White Chicken Chili (check out the recipe by clicking on "Family Recipes" in the toolbar on the left), relaxing with my hubby and getting stuff ready to move around when they get here!

We're going to meet them at the Carousel Bakery for lunch to celebrate Dad's 50th Birthday! It will be delicious and fun to hang out, though we'll miss having Donna here, too! She went with Sam and Deb this weekend to pick out Sam's wedding dress! She's getting married in July and is going to make a beautiful bride! I can't wait to celebrate with her! Thanks to Facebook - I also know that she found a dress, which I'm sure she looks stunning in!

Anyways, in addition to being very excited to see Dad, Tyson and Kathy, I'm also super pumped because they're delivering some fun baby gear!! While I'm sure Jon is dreading all the arranging and rearranging of furniture that is in his future, I can't wait!! :) AND, since he is the amazing hubby and man that he is, he'll still do it happily...most of the time :) Today, we're getting an old bedroom set that we'll use in a guest room - which I'm sure all future guests will appreciate since their current options are 1-sofa, 2-floor For the baby room, they're delivering a dresser, rocker, bassinet and changing table - all from generous family members who are no longer using the items!

We are so blessed, and I can't wait to see the room start to come together!

Who knows what unexpected events the day will hold....maybe Lena & Wessam will welcome Avala ? Mekhael to their family and we can CELEBRATE with them!!!

Another Milestone

Last night, January 20, 2012, I got to feel my baby move in my wife's body! It was the first time that I felt it move. Tiff has tried to get me to feel it before, but I never felt anything. Sure I felt her heart beat, and one time I almost convinced myself that I felt a baby, but I didn't feel a thing. Last night, though, I felt D.J. It was awesome. As the man, it can be kinda frustrating to not feel as connected to the baby as the woman, but this definitely helped. Now I just can't wait to feel the baby in my hands!

-Jon

+ 1

January 16, 2012 is definitely a date that will live on in my mind for a long time. You see, I got to see my child for the first time today. I was giddy. I don't even feel ashamed to use that word "giddy." I definitely was. The pictures on the sonogram were much clearer than I anticipated, so I got to see my child's mouth, his/her (but let's face it...it's going to be a boy) little hands and feet, his/her eyes, his/her spine, and even his/her ventricles and atria! The baby appeared healthy in every aspect, much to Tiff's and my joy. We got pictures of the little rascal, despite his/her best attempts to move out of the screen as much as possible. There is no doubt in my mind that our child is going to be amazing. Amazing! That's about the best word to sum up everything that's going on in this process. The Vande Kopples are now +1!

--Jon

January 16 is a special day for two reasons: it's my dad's birthday (today happens to be his 50th!! Happy Birthday dad!!); we got to see our baby for the first time! We decided to not find out what we are having, so while Jon continues to confidently believe it's a boy, we'll have to wait and see! He even claims to have picked up on some images during the sonogram that solidified his feeling, but who knows :) As J said, having the sonogram was amazing! While a bulging belly and other wonderful pregnancy indicators should be enough 20 weeks into a pregnancy to make it real to me, there are many days that it just doesn't feel real :)

Baby VK stayed mostly in the same position throughout the sonogram, with quite a bit of movement from side to side! It was so beautiful to see him/her open and close his mouth, to see one of his arms tucked up under his body (which I believe he/she gets from me - one of my favorite ways to sleep!!), and another arm bent with fist at chin in a sort of "thinking" pose - which he would of course get from daddy! His/her legs were moving about quite a lot which was so cool to see! We also got an incredible view of the baby's entire profile from head to toe!! No pics of it, but wow what an amazing mental image!! His/her spine is clearly defined and he/she is already just perfect!!

I've felt gentle and sporadic nudges since the 1st or 2nd of January, but wasn't quite sure that they were "kicks." However, after today, I'm sure that I've been feeling the baby! Those nudges are becoming more and more frequent, and I can't wait until Jon can feel them too!!!!

This DEFINITELY was a special day that made this experience even more real for me and for Jon! I can't stop looking at the pictures of our little one, and can't wait to see him/her in just 20 weeks!! We are so blessed, and are grateful that the Lord has called us to be parents! You can check out all 10 of Baby's first photos by going to our photo album page!!

--Tiff

Unexpected Gift

This year, I turned 28! Yikes!! haha! I certainly don't feel like I've lived 28 years, and I'm pretty sure in my younger days, I envisioned my life a bit differently when I reached the old age of 28! :) However, I wouldn't change much about my journey, and am incredibly grateful for the beautiful people I've met over the years! Well, this year, we took a long weekend trip to Colorado to see Jada who was visiting some friends there.

It was an awesome trip with hiking, mountains, and friends! Jon and I had a nice balance of time together and time with Jada. One of our favorite things to do when we go on any trip, is to check out a local brewery or to buy beers brewed in that area. SO, being that Avery was right there in town, Jon and I went on a tour, followed by dinner and a number of delicious Avery brews! We also were gifted a free night in an amazing hotel by one of my mom's friends! All in all, it was a great gift to be in a beautiful environment with my hubby and to see one of my besties, Jada! Couldn't ask for much more for my 28th Birthday!

Little did I know, I was in store for an expected and amazing gift! I started out the day working from home as usual, and bummed that of all days, Jon had parent-teacher conferences and wouldn't be home until 8pm instead of his usual 4:10pm. Well, as the day went on, I was thinking more and about taking a pregnancy test, so I went ahead and did, not believing that it would come back positive. Well, much to my surprise, IT DID! What an awesome, shocking change of events! I couldn't wait to tell J when he got home, and we are both so thrilled to be welcoming our new baby!! While the doc gave us a due date of June 4, I'm still going with June 3, the original calculation given by a very reliable baby website :) You never know, maybe Jon will share his bday with our baby!!