11.30.07
Last meeting
Yes, you read it right. We had our last meeting with our social worker. Yippee! (No offense Kim!)
We did find out Princess has to get fingerprinted. Our state hasn’t implemented the Adam Walsh law but by the time we get our little one it might so it’s better to be prepared.
So other than that, which we’ll get done Tuesday we’re done with our home study and now just wait for our social worker to get everything written up. But she told us that our agency’s social workers can still show our profile to expectant moms, even though our home study isn’t done done. We don’t have any new news about the mom that’s due in January. Our social worker was going to check and let us know if she is still working with our agency.
Ok, I guess I lied-we’re not completely done. We still have to raise the rest of our funds for the adoption. Once our home study is finalized then we can apply for grants. I’ve been thinking about and praying about different fundraisers we could do too.
We ask that you join us in praying that God would provide the funds needed.
11.28.07
Perspective
Although I don’t have the Jeep Grand Cherokee I would really like, I do have a reliable Chevy Malibu to get me where I’m going.
Although I haven’t been have to conceive a child, I do have two wonderful step-children.
Although I don’t have the most stylish clothes in town, I do have a warm coat and shoes to wear when it’s cold.
Although I haven’t climbed Mt Everest, I have climbed the trails of the Rocky Mountains.
Although I can’t take any vacation I’d like to, I can spend every night with my husband.
Although I can’t afford laser surgery to fix my eyes, I can afford glasses so that I can see.
Although I’m not a size 2, I can see myself through God’s eyes, as a child of the King no matter my size.
Although I don’t know what tomorrow holds, I know Who holds tomorrow.
11.27.07
Now that’s strange
We had our last meeting with our social worker tonight for our home study. This one was at our home and she also wanted to meet with Princess.
Me: Kim will want to meet with you by yourself tonight.
Princess: Ok
Me: Are you nervous?
Princess: No
Me: You don’t get nervous meeting with strange people?
Princess: Well, I get to meet with you every day.
Ha ha. I meant “stranger”. Princess is cool as a cucumber, at least that’s what she tells me and Hubby. Hopefully she’s like that inside her heart too.
Our meeting went well – as far as we know. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks when we get the home study report back. I didn’t even go crazy cleaning. I was so proud of myself. I did the basics and put as much clutter away as I could but not too much wacko cleaning. It’s a good thing to – we did a quick tour that took about 2 minutes and that was it.
Speaking of strange – it’s a strange feeling to be close to having this done. I really haven’t allowed myself to get too excited and neither has hubby. I suppose that’s natural and probably good for us to guard our hearts. I shouldn’t really say that we’re close to having it done – our wait could be a year. Lord willing, it won’t be but only He knows and we’re trusting in His timing.
Another strange thing happened today. I had the ultrasound and other test that I can’t remember the name of and if I wasn’t so lazy I’d look it up but I am lazy so too bad! Anyway, during the ultrasound the technician says, “do you still have your ovaries?” (yes) and then a little while later she said, “do you still have your appendix?” (yes). I politely said yes each time but on the inside I was saying “HELLO! You are the one looking at my insides – you tell me!!” So that made me wonder what she was seeing and unfortunately I’m not privy to that information until the doctor calls. For the other test we got some more, I guess you can call it strange, information. The doctor said my fallopian tubes are open so that’s great. But then he said there’s a mass in my uterus. “It could be an air bubble but you should probably have it checked out.”
Now that’s strange. Kind of in the make you want to puke, worry like crazy, what in the world is in my uterus, kind of strange.
11.26.07
What blog?
Jeez louise, you’d think my brain exploded. These last few weeks it’s like I’ve completely forgotten I had a blog. That’s weird! It’s probably cuz we have alot of stuff going on and I’m just plain tired. So here’s an update…
We had two amazing Thanksgiving meals. Hubby and I prepared one here at our house for his family. That was at noon. Then we packed up the car and drove two hours and had another amazing meal with my family and stayed there for a day. Then we came home and worked like crazy on our house, finishing up little things like trim, outlet covers, etc.
Icky icky. I haven’t been feeling well. Remember my wacked out, psychotic, hormonal, pain inducing reproductive system? Well each month it’s gotten worse. I’ve been seeing a gazillion doctors and such and until we get something figured out I’ve just felt icky and some days it’s real hard to get out of bed.
Adoption. So close. THIS WEEK we have our last meeting with our social worker and then our home study is final (I know, it’s about time!). Then we wait but it’s a better wait because we’ve done everything we have to do, other than wait. Actually I’m also working on our background check information. For those of you who have never done this you have to write down EVERY address you’ve every lived at. EVERY ONE. Yes, the farm that we lived on for 6 months. Yes, that apartment in Colorado we lived in for 9 months. These people are crazy, that’s all I have to say. But thanks to Google Earth we’ve found our past addresses and I just have to get that typed up.
Icky icky. A little bit more about this. I went to a specialist today to see what our options are. Option #1 have a hysterectomy (this from a doctor who does very few of these). Option #2 take narcotics to relieve the pain I’m experiencing (99% sure from endometriosis and poly cystic ovary disease). Option #3 take Lupron which will put me into menopause. Will relieve the pain but give me all the menopause symptoms and of course no pregnancy. If we still want to pursue fertility options then there’s option #4, continue charting with the Creighton Model for 2 months and then go back and decide if we should have surgery (would be my 5th).
So in order to help us with our decision tomorrow I’m having an ultrasound (both regular and pelvic) and another test (can’t remember the name) to see the extent of the endometriosis and other things that might be in there. I gave about 2 gallons of blood today and those results will be back in a week. They put both me and Pat on two kinds of antibiotics to get rid of any bacteria that may be messing things up. And if I don’t want to take the narcotics she gave me some other options, like how much Motrin I can really take without overdosing. We really like this doctor. She has a strong faith, is easy to talk to, took as much time as we needed and is honest about our options. She’s worked and trained with the doctor that created the Creighton Model so that’s encouraging. She asked us if we’ve considered adoption. Uh, ya 
She encouraged us to continue with the adoption, even while looking at fertility options.
So that’s it in a nutshell. Why I’ve been absent from the blogging world. I’ve sure missed you all and hopefully life will eventually get back to some sense of normal – whatever that is, I’m not sure.
11.22.07
How amazing are your blessings God!
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Psalm 105:1
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today we shared in two Thanksgiving meals. At noon we had dinner with Hubby’s family at our house. Then we loaded up the two vehicles with our bags, Princess and three dogs and drove to my parents house where we had another Thanksgiving meal. They were both amazing and I couldn’t help but think about how fortunate and blessed and spoiled we are! Not only to be with family and loved ones but to have a warm home and enough food to feed an army. We are so blessed.
Lord, help us to remember every day, not just once a year, the many many blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you and we love you!
11.20.07
One down, five to go
It’s a miracle. It really is. We’ve finally finished one of our profile books for our adoption. I say “one” because we have to make SIX of them! Yikes! But really the other 5 will be easy because now we have everything set up.
Anyway Hubby is a graphic artist and a perfectionist. I love to scrapbook and am a perfectionist. That is a deadly combination. Needless to say we’ve been working on this one profile book for about 2 years now. Well, maybe it’s been more like 2 months but it’s seemed like forever.
It also made it difficult because we know at least one of the expectant moms that will be looking at it. The one that we met last month and is working with our adoption agency. She’ll be the first to see it to help her with her decision of what family to choose for her baby. Yikes! That made us question every single picture that we were going to put in the book. And question every single thing we thought we should say. So we finally decided we cannot think about the expectant mom, we have to just be real, be ourselves and not worry about it.
So last night about 10:30 we finished. I’ve been feeling horrible and was crabby. Hubby was crabby. Honestly it wasn’t the funnest project we’ve worked on together but when it was finally done it felt so good. It felt like we’d climbed Mt Everest.
And then I had the weirdest feeling: I didn’t want to mail it. I wanted to keep it. It was so pretty and amazing and made me cry every time I looked at it. Even this morning before work I stopped at the post office and sat in the car and had to look at it two more times wondering, should I mail it? I love it so much!
Wow, that sounds really weirdo now. But I guess it’s because I love my family so much. I love how God has blessed us and how I look back over the past 5 years and see how He has changed us and molded us and brought healing and love to our family.
But I did mail it. And I love how God has brought us on this new journey. Even though it’s really hard and sometimes I just want to throw in the towel, I love that the mother of my child will look at the pictures and read it one day and say “I want them.”
11.15.07
Wow, that’s interesting!
You should have heard what we heard! We heard alot of good stuff. It was amazing!
We went to the Weekend to Remember marriage conference last weekend and we learned so much. We heard some things we didn’t expect to hear (lots of sex talk) and some things we were hoping to hear (Committed to Christ=strong marriage).
We knew we’d probably hear some things about sex. But we had no idea it would be to the extend that we did. But it was good sex talk – for both the guys and ladies. Anyway, does this make you uncomfortable, me talking about this?
Well too bad! If you’re married you should be talking about it too so we thought we’d share with you the books we purchased. We highly recommend you attending a Weekend to Remember conference (if you are married) but until then these books would be good purchases for ya!
Enjoy!
Simply Romantic Nights (not really a book but good too)
Intended for Pleasure
Coffee Dates for Couples
Intimate Issues
Rocking the Roles
11.12.07
WHAT IS THAT SMELL?
So we stayed at this amazing, plush hotel this weekend for the Weekend to Remember marriage conference. Did I say it was amazing?
We are sleeping soundly on Saturday night, having sweet dreams about our wonderful marriage and all we’ve learned this weekend. At about 4:00 AM I wake up to the most disgusting, awful smell I’ve ever smelled. I wake up Hubby…
“Is that you”
“What are you talking about” (except he said it all sleepy like)
“That smell! Is that you”
“No”
It smelled like dog poop. In our bed. Right next to our face, like on our pillow or something. I was tempted to start feeling around but wait, we don’t have a dog in the room so how is it possible that a dog could poop on our pillow?
I continue to complain and Hubby starts snoring again. He obviously doesn’t have the amazing smell detecting nostrils that I do. I get up, go out into the hallway. Hhmmm, doesn’t smell so bad out here.
WHAT IS GOING ON????
I start thinking out loud, “Maybe God is trying to tell us our doggies are in trouble!” (We left them home alone for the weekend.)
Hubby awakes from his so called deep snoring sleep and says, “Maybe God is trying to tell us to clean up the poop in our back yard.”
Ya ok, that must be it.
We never did find out where the horrendous poop fumes were coming from. Being the loving Christians folks that we are, we didn’t even complain to the manager.
Ok, it’s probably not cuz we’re loving Christians (although we are), it’s probably more like we didn’t want say to the manager “We woke up at 4 am and smelled dog poop! We want a refund!” How stupid is that!
11.11.07
Home
It’s good to be home. Even though we stayed in a plush, comfortable amazing hotel this weekend it’s so good to be home.
Some days I’m so homesick. Not for my earthly home but for my heavenly home. To be in the presence of our heavenly Father, Jesus, my Savior, my Friend! To worship God and no longer have tears or pain or sadness. Talk about amazing!
Do you have a reservation at the Father’s House? Are you 100% confident that when you die you will be going to your heavenly home? If not, send me an email and I’d love to visit with you more.
I’ll share more about our weekend later.
11.09.07
Beating the odds
Sorry for the scary picture. That was me and Hubby last year at his work’s Christmas “Prom” party. Ya! 80’s all the way!
Anyway, I’m so excited for this weekend. Hubby and I are attending the Weekend to Remember marriage conference AND we splurged and are staying at a hotel even though the conference is in our home town.
Our marriage didn’t start out so hot. We were both unbelievers. I was running from my first marriage and Hubby was running from being alone. We were hurting which caused us to be hurtful and low and behold getting married didn’t solve anything. About 6 months after getting married I recommitted my life to Christ and things just got worse. About 6 months after that Princess got saved and then Hubby was really in a bad situation (or so he thought!). I eventually learned to keep my mouth shut (most of the time) and show Hubby the love of Christ instead of my own selfish love. It was actually a fight between me and Princess that brought Hubby to his knees and he accepted Christ as his savior.
And things didn’t get better. Not right away anyway. I remember hearing Dr Phil share that marriages that start the way ours did, only about 10% of them last. Sorry Dr Phil, you got nothing on us because our God is bigger than 10%!
On New Years Eve we’ll be married 5 years. Every year since we’ve gotten married has been better than the one before and God has shown His mercy and grace to us in so many ways. So I’m thankfully able to say we are not attending the Weekend to Remember conference because we’re struggling in our marriage. However, we both learned the hard way that marriage takes work. It takes committment. It’s not about feelings – it’s about being committed to each other through anything and being committed to Christ makes that journey alot easier.
Plus we figure that Lord willing we’ll have a baby soon so we won’t have a chance for a weekend getaway for awhile. Hope y’all have a great weekend. I know we will!
