Life | Natalie and Corby

I write from my supine position on the couch, moving as little as possible for fear that any activity might aggravate my sore muscles. You see, Corby and I have started on a fitness journey. We have taken on the challenge of P90X, an intense, DVD-based workout program. For the next 90 days, we will be following the workout schedule, hoping to see our paunches disappear and our muscles get bigger. We are not following the diet portion of the program, just the workouts. We are trying to eat a bit healthier, but we’re not focusing on it.

Anyway, we have to take pictures before, during and after the program to track our results. We have decided to share these pictures, in hopes that having our pre-ripped selves up on the internet will inspire us to stick with the exercise and, hopefully, look much better in three months!

I guess I’ll bite the bullet and put up my pictures first. Now, I’m aware that I am a small person. But I am NOT a fit person. I do not have any muscles. I would like to have muscles. If p90x decided to give me the physique of P!nk, I would not complain:

But, alas, I do not have those abs yet. This is me, in all my pre-p90x glory:

Now for Corby’s Day 1 pictures. I won’t comment on what he wants out of this or what he thinks his weak spots are. He might smack me.

Hopefully, as we report back through this process, we will see some real improvement in the way we look as well as in the way we feel. It’s  going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it!

I arranged my books by color. I am a huge nerd. I used to have them arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name and divided into sections of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry/writing. But, as anyone who has ever opened one of my CD cases can attest, I am terrible at not putting things back where they belong. So, my books would always end up out of order because I was too lazy to remember where they were supposed to go. Arranging them by color will be simpler, I think. It certainly took me less time to organize them initially. If I don’t remember where a book goes, I just look at the color of its spine and stick it in that general area.

My only problem, one that is really bugging my OCD-tendencies, is that I didn’t have enough lavender-hued books to properly do the ROY G. BIV spectrum. I just had to do a general purple section, and I end up with ROY G. BP… which isn’t nearly as nice.

As everyone knows, Haiti was hit by a terrible earth quake that left much of the country in ruins. The Austin Stone and Aaron Ivey Music have put together a way that anyone with the financial ability can help. 100% of the proceeds will go to the relief effort.  Click on the picture below to help out if you can.

Cheers

Corby

Hello Everyone!

It has been a great and wonderful Christmas this year. We started out at Mimi and Pop’s, then on to Lubbock for Natalie’s Family, to College station for the newest member of the family and finally to Dallas with Rara and Doc!

We start in AUSTIN, TX

Natalie and I put up our tree and of course I got to put on the light up star on the top.

Christmas Lights on our new house!

Now on to LUBBOCK,TX

The Great McCoy Christmas Tree!

It SNOWED and we had a white Christmas!

Then on to COLLEGE STATION, TX

Here is Casey just before the delivery.

The Family looking to catch the first sight of baby Ava!

Welcome Baby Ava Rose Bryan to the world! She is awesome and we are so happy for Casey and Kelly!

Finally we finish in Frisco with Rara and Doc!

Playing outside the house.

Rohan with his new blow up sword!

Finally the best part of the Christmas break was to eat this Cheese Cake from the Cheese Cake Factory! Mmmmmmm Good!

I hope everyone had a great and amazing Christmas and New Year.

Cheers

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my wonderful mom and dad who are now more like friends than parents. I am thankful for my little sister, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and cousin. I am thankful for Corby’s family, getting to know them over the past few years and becoming closer. I am thankful for my niece, Ava, who will be born in a few weeks and for my nephew, Rohan, who is smarter and more OCD than any 4-year-old should be.

I am thankful for my husband, Corby. He loves me at my most unlovable. He works to understand me when I am illogical and full of nonsense. He laughs at my stupid jokes and makes fun of me, just like I make fun of him. He is the most caring, kind person I’ve ever met. I love him.

I am thankful for my friends. For Meagan, who I love so dearly even though we are not good at staying in touch. I miss walking to class with you, and I giggle every time I think of you waking up from your nap in the middle of that study group. For Jeffrey, for all he has been to me over the past 6 years, for talking to me every day, for putting up with me when I’m stupid and annoying. Thank you for being my friend, my brother. For Emily, Elizabeth, Callie, Christa, Alex, Debi, and all my other girls from Hobby Lobby. I miss you all so much, our epic movie marathons and playing with Hercules. We have more fun than anyone should be allowed to have at Hobby Lobby at 4am, or doing inventory, or closing on Black Friday.

I am thankful for my pets. For Widget, who sticks to me like velcro and purrs like a motorboat. For Archer, who has been my constant companion for two years and who can always make me smile. And yes, even for fat Jack, who occasionally wakes me up by sitting on my chest and head-butting me in the chin.

I am thankful for my church. Austin Stone, you’ve been the answer to so many of my prayers. You’ve given me a place to learn and to give back. I’m so blessed by the Lyons’ small group, for the ability to volunteer in the nursery with the toddlers I love so much, for a home and a place to fit in.

I am thankful for our house, for the home it’s becoming and how it will some day be full.

Thank you, Lord, for the many blessings you have given me. Thank you for your constant love and care.

I opened up my iTunes today to find nothing. No songs. Completely empty. Now, going from almost 7,000 songs to zero songs in a matter of moments is a terribly frightening occurrence. I’ve spent almost 5 years collecting those songs, and to think of them being gone made me sick to my stomach. Logically, I knew the files were still there, but emotionally, seeing that completely empty screen, it was like getting punched in the gut.

While thinking I had lost the music was awful, I was so much more upset about the possibility that I had lost so many memories. I’m generally not a sentimental person. I have no pictures of my high school graduation, and it doesn’t bother me a bit. I can give a box of keepsakes and chotchkies to Goodwill without a second glance.

My music and my memories, however, are woven together in an inseparable cord. I am tied to my father so much through music. Many of my favorites come from his music collection, which puts mine to shame. Thanks to him, I knew most of Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, The Beatles, Buddy Holly and The Carpenters by heart before I had ever heard a single song from Britney Spears or N*SYNC. My musical education spanned genres and decades thanks to my dad. I know at least a little of all the greats, and have an appreciation from everything from classical to hip hop.

My relationship with Corby can be quickly summed up by looking at the music we’ve given each other over the years. My musical tastes certainly don’t blend with his seamlessly…I don’t think he enjoys my Broadway soundtracks very much… but we’ve got a lot of common ground. Before we officially started dating, we went to a concert by Jack’s Mannequin, Copeland, and The Hush Sound. So even though they might not all be my favorite musicians, they hold a special place in my heart. Corby’s love for ska and punk rock blend with my love of all things lyrical and result in music like Ben Folds and Five Iron Frenzy. We also both have a random love for the 2004 Warped Tour compilation.

My friends each hold special musical memories, too. The CDs that Vikram burned me in high school are still some of my favorites, even though Goo Goo Dolls and Franz Ferdinand might not be so popular anymore… Jeff and I listen to a lot of the same stuff (Last.fm says we have “super” musical compatibility), and stuff like James Blunt, The Verve Pipe and the Elizabethtown soundtrack all make me think of him.

But then, some of my music is just personal. My love of The White Stripes, Dolly Parton and Michael Jackson borders on obsessive. I can’t listen to The Ataris without remembering walking down Broadway (Lubbock Broadway…) on the 4th of July, 2005. Sufjan Stevens’ “For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti” makes me weep every time I hear it.

So, while the thought of having to completely re-organize all my music is daunting and frustrating, it’s nothing compared to the sorrow I would have felt had they truly been gone. I must admit I cursed several times today, thinking of how tedious it will be to delete all the multiples (of almost every song) that iTunes decided to create, but I think that now I can’t complain about having too many of everything when I was so close to having nothing at all.

(So, this turned out a lot longer than I meant it to be…)

I read a lot of blogs. I used to read a lot of books. Now, I read some books and a lot of blogs. They’re mostly adoption blogs. Blogs of families preparing to adopt, blogs of families who have adopted and are now living their lives as a family, blogs of people who work in the adoption world or the foster care world or in Haitian orphanages seeing poverty and abuse and death every single day.  I have learned that adoption is not pretty. The systems are all flawed. The foster care and state system is flawed. The adoption relationship between the US and other countries is flawed. Many of the adoption processes in other nations are not only flawed, but down-right corrupted.

Like the systems surrounding adoption, we as humans are not pretty. We are sinful and spiteful and negative and selfish. And despite all of our stinking human crap, we have been adopted into a family with the greatest Father of all, whose love never fails. The Bible says,

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:15-17)

We didn’t do anything to deserve God’s love. We have no biological ties to him or genetic dibs on his inheritance, yet he chooses to bring us into his family, love us as his own and grant us the same rights as a biological child. We were orphans, and he rescued us from the hardships of the world and from ourselves. We continually fail him. We consistently go against his will and against what he knows is best for us. And yet, everyday, he is there, loving us.

I knew from a young age that I wanted to build a family through adoption. For a long time, I was fairly certain that meant adopting a daughter from China. Adoption from China was a very positive thing in my mind. One of my favorite teachers had adopted, and for some reason, a lot of the media coverage of international adoption during that time was focused on China. When I was about 13, I downloaded and filled out an adoption application from an agency that is, interestingly, based here in Austin. I wanted to practice, to know what I was doing when the time came. (But laws change and requirements change, so basically, I still don’t have a clue.)

I was amazingly blessed to find Corby. He supports my dream of adopting and is committed to educating himself on the vocabulary and processes of adoption. Our church home Austin Stone Community Church is passionate about building a community that is supportive of adoptive families and orphan care in general. Corby’s company offers some financial adoption assistance, and our church has an adoption fund for church partners who are adopting. Even though we are still some time away from beginning the adoption process, it is amazing to see these pieces already falling into place.

My dreams have slowly grown and shifted from simply adopting from China to having a heart for adoption as a whole. There are over 150 million orphans around the world. If about 8% of Christians adopted, orphanages world-wide would be completely empty. As Americans, we are so blessed both financially and with physical belongings. The poorest among us is infinitely richer than the majority of the world’s population. While it is impossible for me to say, “Adoption is right for everyone,” I truly believe that adoption is a great option for almost everyone. We have enough room. We have enough money and enough things and enough food and definitely enough love. I know that right now is not the right time for Corby and I to start our family. Heck, I’m not even old enough to be eligible for most of the adoption and foster programs. But it’s crazy to see our two spare bedrooms in our new house and think of the kids who so desperately need homes and love and think of these rooms just sitting empty.

So, for now, I read the blogs, and I pray. I pray for the Ivey family, who just brought their daughter home from Haiti and are working through the adoption process with their son.  I pray for our community group leaders, the Lyons, who should be travelling to get their daughter, Gwen, in the next couple of months. I pray for the Waters, as they walk through the most difficult parts of life and find a new home for their son. I pray for Real Hope for Haiti as they work with sick children and families in poverty.

“In You, the orphan finds mercy.” (Hosea 14:3)

Hello everyone,

After a very disappointing run with our last provider we are finally back up and running. It was a very sad day because our old server company went under and this means we lost all our old posts.  This might be a good thing because now we can start fresh. We hope to start blogging a lot more and thank you everyone for bearing with us during this transition.

Cheers

Corby