Happy Friday!!!

So the morning after the great hail storm of 2006.....things are the same here. Looking at my beautiful car in the daylight intensified the damage. What makes the matter a little more heartbreaking is that I just got this brand new 2006 car in November. I used the excuse to Paul that I couldn't take Avery around in an old car:) Don't laugh....it worked. Anyway I have already filed the insurance claim and soon my car will be good as new.

Not alot going on here today, I thought I would post a couple of the pictures I took last night of the hail. One is me holding the hail in my hand and the other is various pieces lying on a trash can that was outside.

I wanted to give a shout out to my great nephews...
K#1 (aka sportsdude101)you rock!!! Good Luck at your game tomorrow.
K#2 (aka froggy) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I can't believe you will be 11 years old!

The Rest of the Story....

So, I was already in a mellow mood this week as evidenced by my earlier post. Then came the great hail storm of 2006. We are now the proud owners of 2 jacked-up cars, a travel trailer whose skylights were destroyed therefore flooding the inside, and busted windows on the front of our house. But, things could be worse, my parents have a busted skylight in their bathroom so it was almost humorous to stand in the doorway and watch the rain and hail come down inside the house. At this point the winds are so high that it is too dangerous to attempt to go on the roof to cover the skylight.

The most important thing is: we are all safe, the material things can all be replaced, and filing all the insurance claims and getting things repaired will take my mind off the wait.

Now I am off to bed to dream happy thoughts.....
Tune in tomorrow and I will try to include some pictures of our monsterous hail.

Calgon, take me away...........

Let me preface this post by saying I am a very lucky woman. I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful home, loving family and friends, a great job, an amazing dog, and a baby girl somewhere in China waiting to come to her forever family. I love my life and would not trade it for anything in the world.

With that said, have you ever had one of those days where you just wished there were no responsibilities? Just to be able to get into the car and drive to see where the road takes you. Money was no object, time was irrelevant, and there was nothing standing between you and the open road.....today is one of those days.

I think several things are contributing to my mellow mood: to put it bluntly, it has been a "crappy" week at work and I am trying so hard not to get bogged down with all the rumors of "the wait" lengthening, and Paul and I have been so busy lately I think there has not been enough time to decompress.

I am making a pact to myself TODAY to slow down, smell the roses, and enjoy the little things in life. Anyone care to join me?

What a weekend...........

We had an action packed weekend. Friday we went to Paul's grandparents house in a small community in Oklahoma. The community in which Paul's parents and grandparents live was hosting a "community garage sale". A couple of month's ago they asked us if we would be interested in participating to help raise some adoption funds. We cleaned out closets and drawers and called upon family and friends to do the same. Everyone donated their items to us for our "Avery fund". Well, the sale was originally scheduled for last Saturday, we went and set up and did pretty good but because of horrendous rain the community decided to try it again this weekend. So back to Oklahoma we went. We we first started out talking about the sale I told Paul "I'll be happy if we make a couple hundred bucks, just something to go towards our airfare for China". My dream goal was $500 (half of a ticket) but because it is such a small community I thought that would be impossible. Well the shoppers came, and came, and came. With the 2 Saturdays combined we were able to make a total of $1112. We were speechless to say the least!!!! That's one entire plane ticket to go get our girl..The funniest thing about raising that much money is that the most expensive item we had was a 13" color tv for $25. It's just goes to prove that $5 here and $5 there can really add up.

Paul and I were literally dancing on air when we left the sale Saturday afternoon. We then had an awards banquet to attend for my best friends daughter. She is involved in a competive cheerleading team. Paul and I have attended every competition this season and people often ask us "now which one is your daughter?" It took almost the entire season for people to realize that we did not have a child on the team. While Morgan is like a daughter to us, we are "technically" not related. You see, Paul and I are a married couple with no kids and our friend is a single mom with two amazing girls, so together the 5 of us are a modern day blended "family". Anyway, back to the banquet, as they were giving out awards the gym owner stated "this next award is special, this is for our loudest fan: you might not know her and you might not have seen her, but I guarantee you have HEARD her. Come on up here Robyn, you're our Fan of the Year" I could not believe it!!! For this honor I was presented with a metal trash can(complete with neck strap) and wooden spoon. Let me explain: at the beginning of the season I was trying to come up with some kind of noisemaker to use at the competitions. I tried a cow bell but I shook it so hard the ringer flew out, then I tried wooded blocks but I came too close to smashing my fingers so those were out too. By competition #3 I had the perfect noisemaker, I took an old frying pan and a wooden spoon and banged to my hearts content. Believe me I got some very weird looks but I did not care. From that moment on I was the "pan lady". I guess the small metal trashcan was the next step up. When the next competition comes along I will wear my can and bang it with pride.

Sunday was a day of catching up around the house, laundry, and packing up leftover sale stuff. Overall it was a great weekend: plane ticket money, an award complete with a new noisemaker, and 3 days closer to our daughter, what more can you ask for?

Hope your weekend was fabulous too......

I think I figured it out....

I was trying to find a great picture of Rowdy when I stumbled upon this one. It doesn't show all of his sweet face but it will give you an image of him. This is Rowdy sleeping at my feet while I was on the computer.

I would love to take a great picture of him today, however, he was neutered last Thursday and now the vet is making him wear this "stupid" cone around his head to keep him from pulling out his stitches. I know it is for the best, but he does look quite comical with his "cone" on and I don't want that to be the first image you have of my sweet fur-baby.

We have had an action packed weekend and I will try to post all the details this evening.

Hope your weekend was wonderful......

The Story of Rowdy

If you read one of my earlier posts you will notice I stated I was not "an animal" person. I don't know why, I have just never been crazy about animals. I love going to Sea World and watching the shows and see all the "stuff" swim. I have never been and am still not a cat person. We have had one outside dog in our marriage and that was "okay" he stayed outside in the fence and I would wave at him occasionally :) I once fell off a horse so I don't really like them either. My family and friends know about this aversion to animals and often make fun of me but "oh well" everyone has their own quirks. My husband on the other hand loves all animals, he watches "animal planet" so much I could puke. On this particular topic we are very different.

Now that you know this about me, let me tell you a story..........
It all started back in August (after we decided to adopt) we were knee deep in the paperchase and I received a phone call from my dad that went something like this:

Me: "hello"
Dad: "I bought Avery a dog"
Me: "you did what?"
Dad: "I bought Avery a dog"
Me: "it better be stuffed"
Dad: "No it's not. I bought her a REAL dog"
Me: "Are you serious?"
Dad: "Yes, I bought her a dog"
Me: "Put mom on the phone"
Mom: "hello" - with a funny little laugh in her voice
Me: "Is he lying? Did he really buy a dog?"
Mom: "Yes, he is picking it up tomorrow morning"
Me: "why?"
Mom: "You know how he is....He thinks Avery needs a dog"
Let me interject here that at this point we have not had the visit with the social worker, we are still 3 months from being DTC and who knows how long until Avery actually comes home....and she needs a dog now?
Me: "What kind of dog and where is this dog going to live?"
Mom: "let me put dad back on the phone"
I then ask him the same questions
Dad: "It's a cute little yorkie and he's going to live with you of course"
Me: "We will discuss this later"

I then relay this whole conversation to Paul who starts acting like a kid on Christmas morning "We're getting a dog and he's going to live inside!!!!!! When can we go get him?" I gently remind Paul that I am not an animal person and I have never nor was I ever planning to let an animal live inside my house. Paul's response "but he's already paid for it and it is for Avery".

Needless to say with Paul and Dad so excited and Mom boldy saying she's not having a dog in her house I caved. I set the ground rules: I'm not touching it, I'm not feeding it, I'm not cleaning up after it, so there.......

Well, alot changes in 6 months, Rowdy is now "my" dog. He sleeps right next to me, he always comes to me for belly rubs, I feed him bits of my food when I am eating, he licks me all the time (even my face), I even bought him a Christmas outfit.

The morale of the story is even the most cold-hearted, non animal person can be turned to mush if the right dog comes along. He is 8 pounds of energy, personality, and affection.

I love him!!!!!!!!

Now, if I only I knew how to post pictues I'm sure you would fall in love too.

So that's the story of Rowdy.

Happy Friday everyone.

The Rumor Is True

All day yesterday I was reading rumors of the CCAA only matching 5 or 6 days worth of dossiers this month. I tried not to let it affect me because it was ONLY a rumor. I read alot of the rumors but take them all with a "grain of salt" and don't get too upset until I hear an "official" word. Well, that word is here and the next batch of referrals only goes through May 30. May 30th!!!!!!! I am not too terribly upset because I know that there are alot of folks out there with May 31 LID's and know that they must be devastated. My heart goes out to them.

Our LID of Dec 20 seems so far away I cannot even begin to guess when we might get our referral. When we started this journey the wait was 6 months, so there was no thought in my head that Avery would not be home before Christmas. The wait slowly started increasing, so before we were even done with the paperchase I knew 6 months was no longer a reality. I still hold out alot of hope that we will have our daughter home by Christmas. I even said to Paul last week "What happens if we travel in December?" (Both of our families have multiple Christmas celebrations and the real trick has been juggling the schedules) His response was "So what if we spend Christmas in China, can you think of a better present?" He's so logical that sometimes it is irritating.

Please don't get the impression that I am "down" or upset by the latest news. Sad, yes, but not upset. It is what it is and there is nothing that I can do personally to change it. I know that timing will be perfect in God's plan and that the child that is chosen for us will be the right match no matter when that match comes.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.....It seems as if once I surrended to the blog world I am know a "true blogger". 3 posts in 18 hours, what is that about?????

Wanna talk about me......

So I figure if your reading this blog then it might help to know some things about me. Maybe, just maybe, it will give you some insight to my personality, randomness, and overall self. I have seen on several blogs where they post "100 things about me", so in that tradition I think I will do 50 at a time. Here goes, in no particular order:

100. I will be married for 15 years this June.
99. I married my high school sweetheart at the ripe old age of 17. Hey! I was a month away from being 18 and had just graduated from high school (and NO, I was not pregnant).
98. We were WAY TOO YOUNG to get married but somehow we have made it through. I like to say we grew up together.
97. My whole dream in life has been to be married and be a mother.
96. I never imagined that I would be in my 30's before I became a mother.
95. I am a registered nurse currently working as the assistant manager of a post-partum unit in a moderately sized hospital.
94. I always wanted to be a nurse. I was a candy-striper when I was in high school.
93. I love, love, love Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
92. I am very close to my parents. We actually live next door to each other.
91. I have one brother who is married and has two sons.
90. Avery will be the first granddaughter on my side and the first grandchild on my husband's.
89. I love roller-coasters and the adrenaline rush they give you.
88. I am a control-freak.
87. I am a procrastinator.
86. I sucked my thumb until I was 13 years old.
85. I sleep with a teddy bear to this day. (Everyone need a security blanket)
84. I love to sing loud to the radio when I am in the car alone.
83. I am very loyal to my friends.
82. I am very trusting, but once you break that trust it is almost impossible to get it back.
81. I have a hard time admitting I am wrong.
80. I love giving gifts. Receiving is okay, but my real joy comes from giving.
79. I am very generous to the children in my life.
78. I have only had 2 speeding tickets in my entire life and I always drive fast.
77. I love clearance sales. I often buy stuff I don't need just because of that red clearance sticker.
76. I love taking pictures.
75. Scrapbooking is my latest hobby.
74. I read People magazine every week the day it hits the stands.
73. I have seen every episode of Beverly Hills 90210.
72. My favorite song is "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard and I don't know why.
71. I have a tattoo of a caterpillar on my foot. (it looks really cute when wearing flip flops)
70. I love flip flops. I have around 20 different pair.
69. I hate painting my toenails (not really good for someone who loves flip flops)
68. I bite my fingernails when I am nervous.
67. I don't cry very often.
66. I hold alot of my emotions inside.
65. I have had braces on my bottom teeth 3 times. FYI: you have to wear your retainers!!!
64. I love using exclamation points.
63. I am secretly scared to start Avery's room for fear that something will go wrong and I will never become a mother.
62. I once applied (with my mom) to be on the Amazing Race. We made an awesome video and they didn't even call.
61. They only time I have been outside the country is on a cruise that went to Mexico.
60. I have a passport but no stamps in it.
59. I think it's okay for large women to wear stripes and bright colors.
58. My favorite outfits are sweatshirts and denim shorts.
57. Math was my best subject in school.
56. I was never "an animal" person until I got our current dog Rowdy. He sleeps with us!!
55. I am not a morning person.
54. I like to take long hot soaks in the bathtub with a good book.
53. I have a great relationship with my in-laws.
52. I love to clip coupons and stockpile them until Albertson's offer triple coupons.
51. Purple is my signature color.
50. I love watching movies, romantic comedies are my favorites.

Okay so we are halfway there, I want to leave you with a little suspense so the next 50 will come in a couple of days. Hopefully this gives you a little insight to the inner workings of me.

I hope to use this blog as an outlet for celebrations, frustrations, joys, and heartaches on this journey to Avery.

I guess I am a blogger now!!

I have finally succumbed to peer-pressure and created a blog. Bare with me as I try to nagivate this new territory and make it interesting for all those reading it.

I have been a blog-addict for some time. (Remember the first step is admitting you have a problem!!) Until recently I never really thought about getting my own, but through some well-intentioned pushes and prods (you know who you are) I have finally stepped into this world. As of today I will no longer be just a reader I will also be a BLOGGER. So grab a chair, hang on tight, and let's see where this wild ride takes us.