Trying not to jump on the rumor train.....

As we all know, when referrals came out last month the cut off was Nov 1st. Since that time there have been rumors everywhere of the CCAA matching a huge batch this month. I have seen everything from Nov 14 for a cut off all the way to the 20th. As much as I would love for that to happen I have tried to take everything with a grain of salt. Sure enough the closer we get to referral time the more wild the rumors, now there are rumors surfacing that only up to Nov 7 will be matched. I think we are so far removed by the whole process that it is kind of an "oh well" attitude. I hate to have those apathetic feelings but I guess it is better than obsessing over every little piece of the process. Regardless of what the next cut off is, referrals should definitely be here soon and then the train will take off for next month.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Celebrate today....May 29th

In our family today is not a day of one celebration, but two!!!

Today is the day that we celebrate my mom's birthday as well as my parents anniversary!!

Mom, I could write a long mushy post telling you how much you mean to me and all that but I hope and pray that you already know so I will simply say:





Happy Birthday Mom, Avery is going to be one very lucky girl to have a grandma as great as you!!!







Mom and Dad, I could write a similiar mushy post to honor you on your anniversary but instead I will simply say, you have created an awesome family and I am so lucky to be a part of it!!!!

Thank you for all you have done for all of us and Happy 37th Anniversary!!!!!!!!!

We love you both and hope you have a wonderful day!!!!!!!

A birthday celebration!!!

Once again we had a wonderful Saturday with the M3 Posse and their hubbies. I will tell you that when this group gets together there is no shortage of laughs, food, drinks, sarcasm, or good times. Usually when we get together it is "just for the heck of it" however this was no ordinary gathering. We came together to celebrate the birthdays of Erin, Kelley, and Bob. There birthdays are all within a couple of weeks of each other so we had one big blow out!!

We began the evening at a local Italian restaurant Buca Di Beppo. Paul and I have been there many times and have always enjoyed the food. They serve the food family-style with platters of each entree and everyone gets to sample many different dishes. We had reservations for the infamous "Pope Room". This dining area is it's own separate room with a huge round table, a lazy susan in the middle, and the centerpiece is a bust of the the current pope in a glass case. It was wonderful to have our own private dining area and believe me the lazy susan was getting a work-out with all the spinning going on!!

THE CREW!!!!

Pope Anton would bless all the other patrons as they passed our room.

Me and my honey.

This picture of the girls is priceless. One of the guys growled at Mia and this was her reaction.

After we had done all the damage we could at the restaurant we all ventured over to Chuck and Kelley's for cake and ice cream, after dinner drinks, and games. The girls were in their own little world upstairs enjoying each other.

The Birthday Girls and Boy!!!

Mom made a birthday cake for the honorees, she picked the design herself and we were all very impressed with her Chinese writing:

It says "Happy Birthday" in Chinese. Thank you so much mom for putting all that hard work into a cake for our friends!!

No birthday cake would be complete without candles:
Kelley totally vetoed me lighting 117 candles in her house so we had to settle for the individual numbers. I will leave it to you all to guess the ages of the 3 celebrants that total 117!

It was soon time to bust out the Guitar Hero game. We have had so much fun with this game and even though Christie remains the Guitar Hero Queen we really learned who the "closet rocker" was during the night.

Paul and Christie playing a little tune.

It did not take Valerie very long to decide that Guitar Hero just wasn't her cup of tea.

The closet Rocker:
Who knew that Chuck would surprise us all and rock the house!!

After guitar hero we also did a little singing with the pop star game.

We were also able to introduce Valerie and Gary to the Wii game system. Gary really got into the action. I think we have successfully created another Wii junkie.

I love this shot: Gary is putting his heart and soul into it swinging his "tennis racket" while Valerie appears to be saying "What the frig? The ball never comes to me!"

Overall it was an awesome evening with good friends. We are so lucky to have not only crossed paths with all these people but also made some great friendships!!

Can't wait to do it again!

You comment, I listen......

At the request of my commenters I have loaded a couple of pictures of my home improvement project:

My tool chest:
The infamous miter box and hacksaw I used for the trim. Do all good handymen keep their supplies in a laundry basket?

The baseboards of course were already there, I simply added the trim to the bottom.
After I added the trim, I used wood filler in the seams and then painted the entire thing. Scared of me????

I still have some clean up to do around some of the edges but you get the idea!

Tomorrow mom and I are supposed to start working on the new draperies for the living room. So look for more project progress next week!!

Have a great weekend!!

Home Improvement Weekend...

This weekend was full of home improvement projects around our house. When we pulled up carpet last month and had the concrete stained there wound up being a small gap betweend the baseboards and the floor (because the carpet went under it). So this weekend I tackled the project of putting trim up around the floor. This included me learning how to use a miter box (even cutting flush corners), attaching the trim and then painting the new trim and putting a fresh coat on the baseboards. Whew! Alot of work for one weekend.

Paul was busy with his own project. When we built our house 5 years ago it never occured to me to choose a color for all the electric outlets and the light switches. so of course they installed the standard ecru color. This has always gotten on my nerves because we have off white walls and bright white trim, I always thought the outlets clashed with this decor. Somehow I convinced Paul to switch out all the fixtures for white ones. And no not just the face plates, the actual switched and plugs. This required rewiring the outlets. Now I am happy to say that I love the look of the white fixtures on the off white walls. Did you ever stop to count all the electric outlets and light switches in your house? Well, let me tell you we have a ton!!!

We wrapped up the weekend by attending a birthday party Sunday for my cousin's son (it was a welcome break from all the hard work). It was so funny to watch a 3 year old open presents of both clothes and toys. He was fascinated by the toys and then clothes were immediately thrown to his side. Oh the joy of kids!!

The most exciting thing to happen this weekend is that I am writing this post while sitting on my couch!!! Why is that exciting you might ask? Well all these years we have had dial-up internet (gotta love country livin') because nothing else was available. When we purchased the laptop last year we have perodically checked with our cell provider to see if we could get internet through them. An internet card for my particular computer was not available yet so we were out of luck there also. Well finally after all this time the correct card was produced!!!!!!!!! So now I am with the times and even better is that I can get internet service anywhere we get a cell phone signal, so no more boring road trips for me. I will be surfing the web while cruisin' the highways.

Yes, that's it another exciting weekend in the life of Paul and Robyn!! Thanks for checking in!

Wrapping up the Wild Saturday!! (part 3)

**The events of this past Saturday were too much to cover in one post so I broke it up in 3 segments for you. Be sure to scroll down to read all 3 parts**


After the birthday party and the bounce house festivities we regrouped and regathered at Bob and Erin's for an evening of food, fun, and Wii.

Anton (our resident chef) made us an awesome appetizers, Kelley brought her wonderful mexican dip and we ordered wing and had a grand time.

Chuck and Kelley were introduced to the Wii game system. We were also joined by Elonda and Gary (friends of Bob and Erin) and I am not quite sure they knew what to make of this crazy group!!

Chef Anton prepares his famous appetizer.

I like to call this Mia's "You talkin' to me?" pose.

Move over girls and let Chuck show you how this Wii is played!!

Mollianne thinks that by lowering her body her cow may race faster!

Christie and Anton left for a night at the theatre but soon realized that nothing could be as fun as hanging with us so they returned later all dressed up!

Christie lounges on the Cinderella couch.

There is only so much excitement that one man(and one dog can take).

Goodness Gracious, how can we ever top this day?

Bounce House Shenanigans (part 2)

There is no way that I can adequately describe the events that took place in the bounce house so I hope that you have visited Valerie's blog to get the scoop.

I will let the pictures tell you the story:

Christie hangs on to the wall:

Be careful Christie, those walls have been known to collapse!!

Proof that I did not spend the entire bounce house experience on my hands and knees
Come on everybody do the wave with me!!!!

The collapse take one!!

This is the inside version of the picture that I posted earlier.

And if that wasn't comedy enough here is collapse #2

Valerie is victorious in reclaiming her earring!!

Erin, Christie, and Robyn

By this time Valerie was long gone, and no I don't mean in a crevice in the bounce house. She was safely seated on the back porch trying to recover from her near death experience.

Erin tries to make a quick escape.

Notice her dad trying to make sure their were not further collapses!!

Ring-around-the-Rosie
We would all fall down at the same time and Mollianne would sky rocket to the top. I think she actually touched the roof once.

So you see the whole bounce house experience was not traumatic just certain parts.

Hey Erin, are we getting another one next year?????

Saturday Festivities......(part 1)

Saturday we spend the day at Bob and Erin's to celebrate the 4th birthday of Miss Mollianne. It was quite an extraordinary party and it will be a day that we soon won't forget.

What started out as a celebratory day for one of our favorite 4 year olds turned into a day of laughter, excitement, and a mountain of memories.

Paul and I were entertained by all the children present and couldn't help but imagine that at next year's celebration we would have a gorgeous little Chinese jewel to add to the mix. We had a lunch, played with bubbles, watched the kids enjoy the bounce house, sang Happy Birthday as Mollianne blew out the candles on not 1 but 2 birthday cakes, and enjoyed great company.

Erin later posted that Mollianne said this was her best birthday ever and we are so glad that we were a part of it!!!

On to the pictures:

The Birthday Girl herself, the adorable Miss Mollianne

Miss Emily was adamant that her dolly had to have her own hat and share her cake too!! Love those dimples Emily!!
Miss Mia was infatuated with Mollianne blowing out her candles. Kelley and Mia both look very festive in their party hats.

After she blew out the candles she proudly told that she had wished for Donuts!!!

to be continued......

A little teaser for you.....

Want an explanation for this picture???? Then hop on over to Valerie's blog and read the most hilarious story ever!! You can get there by simple clicking HERE!!!

More details to come.........

Mother's Day 2007

Well another Mother's Day has come and gone. Last year on this day I was absolutely sure I would be a mother this year, but here we are one year later and still no Avery. Dare I say that next year I will be a mother for sure???? I certainly hope so but if I didn't learn it very long ago I have certainly learned through the adoption process that there is no such thing as a sure thing.

Avery, my sweet baby, where ever you may be tonight please know that there is a woman waiting for you across the world that can not wait to be your mother. And that she promises to love you unconditionally, shower you with hugs and kisses, and support you in whatever you want to be!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!!!

To my M3 posse: those of you that already mother's are a great example for all of us waiting. And for those of us waiting: Surely, next year is OUR year!!

To my own mom: thank you so much for all you done for me. You have been my best friend for as long as I can remember. You are such as awesome role model for me and I hope that I can be half the mother you are!! I love you with all my heart!!!!

To my mother-in-love: Sandra, you raised such a tender and loving man. The examples you have set for him are indescribable. You have been there for us over the years and I am lucky to have a mother-in-law like you.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day and celebrated their mother's both those still with us and those looking down from above!!!

Retreat Weekend...

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to go to a Women's Retreat hosted by Christie's church. I was accompanied by 3 very dear friends and we definitely had a time to remember!!!! We left Friday morning and after a brief stop for lunch traveled deep into East Texas for 2 days of rest and relaxation. The camp itself was absolutely beautiful. It was located right on a lake and surrounded by a forest. The cabin were very nice and we lucked out by having the 8 person cabin to ourselves. We participated in a ton of activities and there was a wonderful time of praise and worship as well as awesome speakers and a few activities to boot.

My cabin mates for the weekend:
Me, Erin, Christie, and Kelley

We also had the privilege of seeing Christie lead the praise and worship portion of the services.
Let me tell you THIS GIRL CAN SING!!!! And we especially liked bragging to everyone that we were "with the band"

Saturday we had several hours of free time and we made good use of it partaking of several activities;

We attended a craft workshop and all made bracelets.
Erin's tests out her jewelry making skills.

After jewelry making we ventured over to the zip line where I could not wait to take a wild ride.
The helmet was a real fashion statement don't you think?


I just love this picture;

On our porch there was a plank sticking up just a little and needless to say each of us took a turn tripping over it. It soon became a joke to remind everyone else of the "board up"

Since we were out in the woods cell phone signals were pretty sparse
I really think raising one foot helps the signal.

Christie (our wonderful hostess) surprised us all with gift on our beds each night. Thank you so much for the wonderful "room drops".
We were all gifted with these adorable Lady Bug Bibles.

Overall it was a wonderful time with good friends, good worship, many blessings, and some definite girl bonding going on. I know that everyone of us was touched in a special way this weekend.

Thanks for checking in!!

Camping with the Family

We had our annual April camping trip with Paul's family this past weekend. We always go down for a family reunion on Saturday but manage to get a few days away and have a camping expedition with Paul's parents, grandparents, and aunt & uncle. We always have a great time and this year was no exception. We arrived on Wednesday and spent the next 4 days resting, relaxing, playing games, and visiting with family.

Some of the more memorable pictures from our get-away:

Yes, this is the man I love!!
Paul obviously did not want me taking his picture but a little unflattering image did not deter me.

We spent several hours playing games each night.
Uno attack was the game of choice tonight.

We were able to introduce Sandra to the Wii game system. She really enjoyed herself with the both the tennis and bowling games.


Daddy Sonny always claims he doesn't like dogs but I think this picture says otherwise.
They appear to be having a heart to heart.

Thursday evening we had a campfire and made smores.
Kay and I show off our smore making skills.

All good things must come to an end and unfortunately when camping that means one final reunion at the dump station.
Grammy, Kay, Larry, Sandra, Clifford, Paul, and Daddy Sonny

We had a great time and can't wait to do it again!!

49 DAYS!!!

Referrals arrived this week covering Oct 27 thru Nov 1. Even though this was only 6 days it is alot better than the 2 they got through last month. We have heard that Oct 27th and 31st were both HUGE log in dates so the fact that the CCAA got through both of those this month is definitely a good sign. Now there is a mere 49 days that seperate the last LID referred and ours!!! Come on Father Time get to movin'!!

Our new floor

We spent 4 days last week camping with tremendous amounts of rest and relaxation. Good thing because when we arrived home Sunday evening we had ALOT of work to do. We had to put our house "back together" after cleaning out the living and dining rooms last week in anticipation of getting our floors stained while were gone.

Here are a couple of pics of our new floor:
We had it stained a "cola" color and love the result.
At the last minute we decided to add some etching to "dress it up" a little. We wound up going with a 30 inch square etched diagonally.

It is definitely WAY different than carpet and since our foundation was not super smooth we have some unique texturing. I love the result but have to admit it will take some getting used to.

I will try to post again soon to give you the scoop about our camping trip.

Thanks for checking in!!!