I've been tagged!

I'm so excited to have been tagged by Stacie because that means I have blogfriends! Yay! So here goes nothing (in no particular order):



8 things I'm passionate about:
1. Adoption and how it is now a part of my life
2. Being involved in the lives of my friends
3. My hubband
4. Spiritual growth
5. Being intentional and significant
6. Serving others
7. Laughter
8. Decorating (Ok, I am a little embarassed to admit it, but it probably has to be on this list.)


8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Adopt! A lot!
2. Graduate (soon!)
3. Make the perfect meal (including a perfectly set table)
4. Take Justin to Disney World even though he's convinced he'll hate it
5. Run a marathon
6. Foster parent
7. Clean out hubband's hobby room
8. Have everything clean at once (house, yard, laundry, hubband, etc.)

8 things I say often:
1. I love you
2. Just kidding
3. Uhh, in the dryer
4. No, not yet
5. Let's do it
6. I'm ok with that
7. Yay!
8. May I have a tall cafe vanilla frappacino with no whip, please?


8 TV shows you recently watched
1. The Simpsons (Hubband recently introduced me...and bought several seasons)
2. "History in the Classroom" (varies topic, on the History Channel from 5:15-6:00am)
3. Designed to Sell
4. Still Standing
5. Dirty Jobs
6. Survivorman
7. The Duggars (these people have 17 bio children!!!)
8. The music channels on our TV (no, not MTV)

8 Songs I never tire of listening to: (this was really really hard for me so I'm changing it to artists instead)
1. Norah Jones
2.Barlow Girl
3. Enter the Worship Circle
4. Josie and the Pussycats Soundtrack (haha, I know...)
5. Jude
6. Dashboard Confessional
7. The Shins
8. Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five

8 things that attract me to my friends:
1. ability to laugh at anything
2. desire and willingness to take funny pictures
3. high moral fiber
4. love of coffee, especially Starbucks (we are being honest here)
5. love of sweets (as long as we're being honest)
6. willingness to go along for the ride
7. good advice, both giving and taking
8. ability to talk (or email) for hours about nothing

8 Things I learned in 2007:

1. marriage gets better and better
2. it's ok to change
3. I actually like this blog stuff (who would have thought?)
4. laugh and get over it
5. God will teach you anything you're willing to learn (and some things you're not)
6. I really am an excellent baker (see no. 5 above)
7. happiness is not a place, it's a life skill
8. life really is so much fun!




Ok, so now I'm supposed to tag some people:
Bethany, Amy, Tracie, Cindy, Michelle, Adanise, Vickey, Christin, Kellie, and Glo.
Yay for blogbuddies!

Questions for the Readers

Hello out there in BlogLand. So, as a soon-to-be first time mom, I have some questions. Today, I want to ask two:

1. What is the public opinion on breastfeeding adopted children? Has anyone tried? Success?

2. Is anyone out there teaching their little one Baby Sign Language? I've often thought of this, especially with the language barrier and saw this post on my friend's blog. There's a new post now, but scroll down to the Black Bean Incident. There's a terrific picture.

Thanks, and let me know!!!

random little bits

Things are getting done around here. Thank you, fellow bloggers and adopters for all your encouragement and support. I got some good things from you guys! For instance, I'm officially setting a goal. I kinda had one in mind but only because our agency requests that you finish your dossier paperwork in 4 months. But now, I'm officially claiming to the world (or at least the www) that I want to be done with our homestudy paperwork and dossier paperwork by Valentine's Day. Then hopefully we can get our home visit done by the end of February and mail off our stuff by March 1. I know those are some pretty big goals, but I'm feeling a pretty big amount of love and determination lately.

My sweet friend Angela is going to be induced with baby no. 2 tomorrow morning. I missed my weekly phone call from our agency because I went with her to her last doctor's appointment. But I'd sent an email to Julie letting her know, and this is what she wrote back: "Thanks so much for letting me know. I hope you have a great appointment—this is exciting—you are both pregnant! :) " And yep, I'm starting to feel that way a little.

I couldn't sleep last night and so I did what everyone does at that point...I prayed. Go ahead and admit it. You're just lying there and all of a sudden you say, "Lord, I'd really like to go to sleep now, so whenever you're ready, feel free. Oh, and while I've got your attention....blah blah blah." It's ok, He understands. I fall asleep most nights saying my prayers but last night's seemed so different. I'd had lunch with some friends who all have babies/little ones and they were asking all about Ethiopia and adoption, etc. When really forced to think about the suggested timeline, I think we could have our little one home for Christmas, even with the court closure. Yippie! It's not so far away.

I know that I am often overwhelmed by all the paperwork and precise expectations about paperwork and that gets me down. Well, maybe it just slows me down. But then I realize that the speed at which I do my paperwork doesn't change the fact that God knows exactly who He has picked to be part of our family and that it all works out in His time. Thank goodness for that.

My hubband* and I still cannot agree on a girl's name. We just know too many people who beat us to having kids. I'm not kidding you when I say that everytime we agree on something, one of our friends steal the name before we get to use it. This has happened more than once. No joke. So if anyone out there has some good suggestions that you're not using, let me know. Thanks.

*Hubband is not a typo. That's his little nickname. It's a new vernacular that I'm trying to spread around, so if you want, feel free to use it with your hubband. : )

And because posts are not-as-fun without pictures, here you go.

This is Justin at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Fort Worth inside a really big metal sculpture. He's waving hello! This reminds me of a "Where's Waldo" picture except there aren't a million other people and he's not wearing stripes. But otherwise...

sweet smiles getting me excited

This week I've been caring for a dear friend's little girl. She's three. The time I've spent with her makes me realize how anxious I really am to get this family thing going. It's so precious to check on her during naps in what will one day be the nursery. It's so fun to watch her discover and learn about new things--like our chiming clock, naming the food at the grocery and eating a healthy "wunch" everyday. And when Justin gets home from work I totally bombard him with a long list of exciting things we did during the day. It's pretty fun.

So having her here has really encouraged me to get busier on the paperwork side of life. I've been making phone calls and arrangements during naptime--which I already appreciate--and at night.

So anyway, this is just a little post to keep me motivated during this not-so-fun stage of paperworking. But back to it!

This IS the year!

Last night I couldn't sleep. Then the fireworks started. I know, I just admited how lame I am. Anyway. I started thinking about new year resolutions. Normally, I'm not a huge fan because I think we mean well but tend to make huge resolutions and then don't have much of a chance living up to them and then we feel awful. Or, if you're like me, you kinda just forget about them.
So this year I've decided to try something new. Really, two new things. And I feel pretty good about them.

Instead of making one or two (or hundreds) of resolutions to try to keep up with for a full year, I am instead going to make one a month. I mean, 30 days is not a really long time (like say, a whole year) and if I find that something isn't as cool as I thought, then no biggie, it's just one month and then I can try something else. And, just think, I could successfully change 12 things about my life in only one year!

The other new thing, is that I'm trying to celebrate happenings of the year more often. While listening to the pop, pop, bang, crash of fireworks last night, I started thinking of what all had happened in 2007. I mean, it wasn't as life changing as 2006 (move, get married, buy a house, get two puppies, change colleges and majors...all in less than three months) but 2007 was still a great year. And even better, I realized that 2008 is going to be awesome!!!

Here are some projected upcoming highlights of 2008 for your enjoyment (and mine):
--I will finally graduate. Let the Hallelujah Chorus begin.
--I will finish the dossier.
--I will take my last spring break vacation. This should be good.
--Justin will graduate from the Police Academy.
--Dan and Jess will tie the knot outside on a rice farm in June. (Crazy, I know).
--I will repaint the bathroom.
--We will celebrate our second wedding anniversary (maybe with another big party).
--I will get a referral for a precious baby who will join our family.
--I will meet and hold and hug and kiss said precious baby...about a million times.
--We will come home, as a family.

See! Tons of fabulous things! I can barely wait.