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Checking Things OUt

2006-11-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

Just checking out the good ol' faithful Blogger. We still keep our new journaling on our website: http://adoptioandfire.typepad.com but the old entries are over here. Had to come and print them out.

Still There

2006-08-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

We are still posting at our new site: http://adoptionandfire.typepad.com. Come visit us there!

New Home

2006-07-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

We have moved our blog to a less hacker prone blog: http://adoptionandfire.typepad.com

It's not anything fancy just yet but I am still working on it. Make sure you bookmark the new spot. All updates on the journal will be done there.

Packing Up and Moving

2006-07-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

The hijacked blog was a little on the scary side for me, so I am packing up the blog and moving over to a more secure location. I am giving up the adoption website in leu of having a better blog. I post more to this than the website. Plus I manage to many websites already. This will be much better. When I am moved in, I will post the link. Until then, keep checking this blog for updates and the new link.

2006-07-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

I ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much last night!

I've Been Hacked! So Have a Cookie or Some Cake!

2006-07-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the problems with the Blog folks! It looks like someone decided to hijack it for a while. Luckily Blogger came to the rescue and got it back from those evil people. I am soooooo not a Mariah Carey fan or an M.J. fan. Puhlease! So I have my gift of gab back. I am planning on looking into a paid blog so this doesn't happen again. I am going to be doing some research.

So while I was crying in my milk about this whole hijacking, I was having some of these yummy goodnesses:

Is this not the cutest cookie? I am pretty sure it's loaded with tons of fat and chemicles that were banned in high school chemistry class but they were so good. I had a sliver of the cookie.

This cake was from my friend's daughter's birthday party. This is a bunch of cupcakes that have been frosted together. Isn't it just precious??? So many ladybug sitings lately. I only hope they are bringing some good luck our way!

More about our 4th of July celebration tomorrow. It's getting late.

2006-07-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

Sushi, Wine, and the Beach

2006-07-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

In 25 days I will be heading out to California! I can't wait! I have been really wanting to go out there for the last couple of months. What's even more exciting is that I will be meeting up with my best friends from high school. We are supposed to go to my favorite winery, V Sattui. We are also planning on going for sushi as well. I heard of some great places in SF but I don't know if we will have time to go out there or not. Sushi and wine...

I also can't wait for the beach. That is the one thing that I miss the most. Pt. Reyes and Stinson Beach are my most favorite places in the world. Of course I have really traveled outside of North America and the Carribean but think they would still be my favorite if I had been. My parents and I are talking about doing a hike at Drakes Bay which is in Pt. Reyes.

Are you sure you can't go Babe?

The 4th of July weekend has been dismal. We have a rain system that has been sitting over us for a few days and doesn't look like it will be going anywhere any time soon. We are supposed to be going to these parties and we have the Friendswood parade but I think everything is going to be a wash-out. Today we were supposed to go with some friends to Galveston but we decided to cancel that because of the weather. So today we are back to being lazy.

Mom- Here is my new haircut:

Happy July 1st

2006-07-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

May July bring us many referrals for babies and kiddos..........

Been Lazy.........

2006-06-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have been so lazy about posting on the blog lately. Sorry folks!

John and I are feeling a little better about the adoption this week. We have such supportive family and friends. Who better to lift you out (or beat it out) of your funk than your closest buds? Thanks you guys. We are praying that July brings better news. As of this month we have officially been in the adoption race for a year. The first six months have gone by pretty darn fast. With so much going on between now and the end of the year, we are hoping that the next six months go fast too.

The past few days we have been hanging out with our friends. Sunday we threw a puppy shower for our friends Scott and Elisa. They just got a new baby poodle and she is just too cute. They are always doing things for others, so we wanted to do something fun for them. Our good friends Lisa and Ken helped throw the party with us. Here are some pictures:

Last night we went to our other friend's house for their daughter's second birthday. Sarah was adopted from China last summer. She is absolutely precious. We felt so honored to share her birthday with her. This family has just been so good to us. They have really mentored us through the adoption process. We love them tremendously! Happy Birthday Miss Sarah!

Other than just some good times with friends we have been working and hanging out at the house. I am still thinking about doing some cave tubing in Belize though.........

Beach Photos from Yesterday

2006-06-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

GRRRRRRRRR With the Posting of Pictures

2006-06-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

I am having issues trying to post pictures from our beach trip. Blogger seems to be having some issues. I will try to post them in the morning.

A Band-Aid for Sadness

2006-06-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

The referrals were released from China today and they only covered about two weeks of June 2005. That's great when you think that they have been averaging five days worth of referrals per month. It's not so great when the referral process has become erratic. Who knows, next month they might go back to only five days worth of referrals. That means, if they keep with that trend, we won't see our child for years. If they keep with this two weeks worth of referrals, it will be another 12 months of waiting. That means we are looking at 18 months of waiting before we would get our referral and then another two months before we could travel to pick her up. So today, we are sad. Today, we feel a little hopeless. Today, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Today, we feel like jumping ship. Today, we know that a family member who just found out she is pregnant, will probably have her baby before we do. Don't get me wrong, we are happy for our friends who are closer to their referrals. We are happy for expectant family member. We are just sad for us.

We decided instead of moping around the house to head out to my favorite spot in the world...a beach. And while Galveston is not my beloved Stinson beach, it is a beach that has the calming noise of waves crashing onto the shore. So we packed up and headed down to the island for a walk and for some dinner. The weather was beautiful. The birds were out in mass. And we even managed to catch a hermit crab. Would it be wrong if we headed off to Jamaica for a few days of ocean therapy?

After our walk we headed down to the Strand for dinner at Fuddruckers. We soothed ourselves with big fat hamburgers (turkey burger for me since they didn't have the veggie burger) and milk shakes. We then walked around some more and I caught up with this beautiful butterfly. Now I heard it was good luck for a butterfly to land on a person. This butterfly had to have been special because it let me pick it up and then it stayed put for about five minutes. It kept trying to search for nectar under my fingernail. It felt so weird and it was pretty funny! It finally flew away but I just felt peaceful after that.

Despite our sadness and this dismal outlook on our China adoption, we had a good day.

Rainy Days.......

2006-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty soggy around here the last couple of days. This rain isn't even at a tropical storm level and yet Houston somehow seems to flood. We did get a lot of rain in a short amount of time but good grief, I would hate to see what this place would look like if a hurricane hit. Tropical storm Allison was bad enough. I hope that we don't get anything major this year here in our area.

Adoption news, well there really isn't any. A college professor who teaches statistics, and is waiting for her referral, came up with referral statistics. She estimates that those with late December log in dates (that would be us) would not get a referral until January. That would mean we wouldn't travel until March. Of course we can't really bank on anything because China's referral process has really seemed to have gone haywire. We are seriously living month to month.

Funny picture of the moment:

This is a picture of my cousin, my sister and I posing as if we were inside of a picture frame. My uncle popped up out of nowhere and looks like a ghost in this picture. Anyway, it cracks me up.

Happy Father's Day

2006-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Choices in Life

2006-06-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

I am reading this great book by an author named Hal Urban. My Mom found a book of his at the Naval Exchange in Virginia and it looked really good, so when I got home I checked a couple out from the Library.

The first one I am reading is called, Life's Greatest Lessons. One particular section that hit me with great interest was about the choices me make in life. Everything we do is because of a choice that we have made. He made a list of the most important choices we get to make and I wanted to share them. They made me think about my life and the choices I have made, both bad and good ones. I am going to list these choices but I will add my thoughts.

1) We're free to choose our character-the type of persons we become.
I think we are born with a personality type but I think we can shape our characters. Sometimes character can clash with our personality types but I also think, as does the author, that our character is really molded by our environment. We are molded by the people we hang out with, by the activities we participate in, and what we choose to put into our minds. If the people we hang out with aren't encouraging us to be a better person, or are people with bad character, what's the point in the friendship? If the activities we participate in or the things we fill our heads with bring us down, why bother? Trying to have a good character in this life is hard enough as it is, why surround ourselves with people, places, or things that bring us down?

We're free to choose our values We need to decide what is important to us and what our standards of excellence are and go for them. We can't let others dictate our values.

We're free to choose how to treat other people I don't think anything really needs to be added to that. I know that I could work on this, especially with people who have hurt me.

We're free to choose how to handle adversity Okay, so this is something I definitely need to work on. I was faced with a situation recently where someone who I thought I had helped and did the best I could for that person vehimantly put me and my efforts down. This person lied about me in front of others and just put me down. I thought I handled the situation well but looking back I really didn't. I let this person's words eat at me for a couple of weeks and made myself incredibly angry. I even thought of vindictive ways to let this person know that they were wrong. I didn't follow through with those plans but I should have just let it go. I don't handle adversity too well and I try to avoid it at all cost. I know it's something I need to learn how to deal with.

We're free to choose how much we'll learn Being open-minded about life is a way of learning. If we choose to be closed-minded we can miss opportunities to better our lives. I try and approach every situation with an open mind. It's difficult at times. I love to learn though and will try and take every opportunity to learn as much as I can.

We're free to choose what we'll accomplish in life We can sieze opportunities that are presented to us or turn our backs on them and lose out on a possible accomplishment. We can either be lazy about life or work hard and achieve great things. Being lazy of course is the easy way out but what do we have to show in the end? What we will be able to present to God about our life when we stand before him? I want to leave a legacy. I want to make my accomplishments better my life as well as other lives. I want to experience the life God has to offer. There are so many, many great opportunities out there for us but we have to get our backsides and reach for them, otherwise life and our accomplishments will just pass us by.

We're free to choose our belief system Isn't America awesome? We have the freedom to choose who and how we worship. Even though I feel like my belief, Christianity, is being attacked in this country, I know that I am still free to practice my beliefs with fear of death.

We're free to choose our own purpose What's your purpose in life? Do you long to please only yourself or to please others? Do you believe in a cause greater than yourself? I feel incredibly blessed to know what my purpose is in this life.

Adoption Depression

2006-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

No real news to share with you all on our adoption wait. We have been paper pregnant for six months now. A friend of ours is a little over six months physically pregnant and she will have her baby in three months. Us on the other hand, we don't know when we will have our baby. We don't know if we will have her in six months or if the wait will go up so much that we will be waiting twelve more months before we get her. It's so freaking depressing thinking that there is no end is sight. We can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are no answers from anyone. Today, I am sad about this adoption process and a little envious that our friend will have her baby soon. When will it be our turn??

Enjoy the Coffee

2006-06-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

I received this email from a colleague in the fire service. I usually don't even bother to read forwards because I get so many of them, and usually most of them are repeats of ones I have already read. Because this individual never forwards anything, I decided to read it. It's a really great life lesson and I wanted to share it with you. After the you read it, I will add more of my thoughts:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups made of Porcelain, Plastic, Glass, Crystal, Some ordinary looking, Some expensive, Some exquisite.

He told them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in their hands, the professor
Said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap looking ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and worse, you were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee , then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in
It."

So folks, don't let the cups drive you..., enjoy the coffee instead.

*******
Several people that I know are going through some pretty difficult circumstances in their lives right now. These are people that I admire for the outward appearances. They hold themselves well. They present themselves well. They dress well. Sometimes I am a little envious at what they 'appear' to have. But when you get past their outside appearances and demeanors, there is turmoil and pain. Their coffee cup is beautiful but their coffee isn't so good. Now don't get me wrong, these are good people that try to lead moral lives, it's just right now they are going hardships.

I guess my point would be, just because someone is pretty on the outside doesn't mean they don't go through the tough stuff in life. Many times we admire the pretty people because we assume they lead perfect lives when in reality they have problems too. We need to stop putting so much emphasis on the presentation and put more onto actions. We also need to start looking at our coffee.

Where Would We be Without Family?

2006-06-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Family..the one word that could envoke disgust or joy or sometimes a mixture of both. Families have hidden secrets that they try in vain to keep locked in the closets of the past. Families have the token 'wierdo' that everyone wonders either a) how they ended up wierd or b) how did such a wierd person end up in the family. Families have members who at their very best act like the scum of the earth and members who at their worst still seem like Mother Theresa. Of course there are all of the 'normal' members in between who have been blended together through fate, marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, and through other ways yet to be determined.

What constitutes normal you ask? Normal is yourself. Everyone else in the family is catagorized into to neat little niches in the structure of the family unit. Sure the crazy uncle that likes to talk to himself in the corner of the kitchen seems a little sketchy, but he thinks he is normal. He is actually thinking his niece has gone off the deep-end because her hair is dyed a funky red and has multiple piercings in her ear. The uncle is normal and the niece is normal...in their own eyes.

Family is what made me who I am today. Where would I be without them? What stories could I share with my friends without crazy uncle Bob? I have been shaped and molded by these individuals. My history is written with them as main characters in the story of my life. I love these people even though some of them drive me up the wall. I cherish them with all my heart and I hope they feel the same way about me, even though some of them have to tolerate my silliness. Blood lines and adoption papers tie us all together into a package this doesn't neccessarily look neat or pretty on the outside but when the package is opened a beautiful gift emerges. I love my family. Where I would be without them?

A Tour of Service & sacrifice

2006-05-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have returned home from my two weeks of tour the East Coast. I didn't have time to update the blog like I thought I would. Most of the time I was busy from 7am until 1am. Internet connections were usually non-existent or short and sweet. I wish I could have updated you all while I was out there.

If I could sum up my trip into a few words, I would have to say that this was a journey through our nation's protectors and how they have served and have made sacrifices. Never have I spent so much time on hallowed ground. Never have I been nearly completely surrounded and immersed into the past, present, and future of the lives of those who protect the United States. And never have I been so proud to be a part of this family of servants and a citizen of this great country. I have been deeply touched and completely humbled. I could share many pictures with you of my trip, but these are the ones that mean the most to me.

I started my trip in Emmitsburg, MD which is a short drive to Gettysburg. I had a couple of free days on my hands before my meeting with the National Fallen Firefighter's Foundation. I spent most of that free time exploring the battlefields. I took a horseback ride through those battlefields and got to see the view of the land from the soldier's eyes. What a way to look at the historical impact of the Civil War.

This is a photo of myself with my partner from the Texas State Fire Marshal's Line of Duty Death Task Force. It was pretty neat that we were in Emmitsburg at the same time. He was there for a class and ended up sitting in on the meeting that I was invited to. This photo is taken in front of the National Fallen Firefighter's Memorial. It's a tribute to those who give their lives protecting the homeland and it's citizens.

When I went to Annapolis for my cousin's graduation, my parents and I spent some the day touring The Mall of Washington DC. We hit the Smithsonian and several of the war memorials.

This is a photo of the flag that was flown on the Pentagon shortly after 9/11.

This is a photo of a piece of one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. It was haunting for me to see this, knowing that this was part of an object that was used to attack this country and killed 13 friends of mine. 9/11 still affects me to this day. I can never get out of my head the faces of not only the dead firefighters of Ladder 3 but of those who survived.

This is the World War II memorial. It's absolutely breath taking. I think I could have spent at least an hour there.

This is the Korean War memorial. It makes me sad that so many people in this country take our freedom for granted. Freedom is not free and I think many have forgotten this.

Memorial Weekend we visited Arlington National Cemetery. What an incredible site to see the many flag-staked tombstones of selfless individuals who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Rows and rows of white stones with a hint of red, white, and blue flapping in the breeze.

My favorite part and the biggest reason I wanted to visit the cemetery was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We got there in perfect time. I had the hardest time tearing myself away from that area. I absolutely love honor guards and this is the best of the best. Even after the changing of the guard, just watching the precision and the movements were captivating. I felt both sadness and pride here.

The reason for my trip was to be at my cousin's graduation from the Naval Academy. Many of my family members are currently serving or have served in the military. To watch one more person become prepared to enter into the service was a defining moment. It's a big decision for many of the individuals knowing that they might have to fight in a war that is not popular. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am to be in a family that is willing to step up and protect the lives of Americans.

This trip was meaningful to me in so many ways. I got to visit with family members who I haven't seen in many years. I got to meet new members and hang out with the ones I see regularly. I feel so grateful that God has blessed me with such incredible people that I can call my heroes. I love each and every one of you!

In Maryland & John is an Official Captain now!

2006-05-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

I got into Emmitsburg yesterday afternoon. The flights weren't too bad. I actually slept through part of it. But all is good and I will be here at the National Fire Acadamy for the next few days.

I wanted to post some pictures we took of me putting on John's new captain badge. He went and met with the Chief yesterday and got all of his gear and brass. So now he is offially a captain. I can't use my laptop so I have to come to a computer lab to check email and update the blogger. So no pictures for now. I will get them up as soon as I can.

Emmitsburg is really beautiful. Where the NFA is located is in just an incredible part of Maryland. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere and I think it's actually an old military base. I figured they would want this place closer to Washington DC or to a major city. It is nice though. I had to park my car on the other side of the campus and had to keep walking back and forth. That was creepy since it was night time. No one was around and you would swear someone was following you.

Happy Mothers Day

2006-05-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

To my Mom and John's Mom...A big fat Happy Mother's Day! Thanks for raising us to be the people that we are today.

My friend Lisa gave me a Mother's Day card yesterday. It was a card for mothers to be. I was so excited to get my first mothers day card ever! Wow...how awesome and scary is this? Me a mother? By this time next year we should have a baby wandering around the house.

Live Life

2006-05-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight in my devotions I read this quote by Jim Elliot, 'Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.' And I also read this verse, 'Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens.' 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

I was so touched by these two passages. I try to live my life to the fullest. Yes, I can be quite lazy at times and in the next moment I am speeding off at a zillion miles an hour. My life seems to be full of peaks and valleys but I love it that way. I don't ever, ever want to regret not doing something. If an opportunity opens up, I want to take it.

I have friends (both present and past) who have these fears about differant things. Their fears overwhelm them to the point where they just can't take the steps that they need to take to live a better life. Some of them are very rational fears and other's I just don't quite understand. One certain fear used to control me. I was its puppet until one day I just made a decision that I don't want to live like that anymore. I didn't want fear to steal my joy. I didn't want fear to dictate my life. I didn't want to feel sorry for myself anymore. So, I stepped on that scary airplane one summer's day and cried nearly the whole trip. But I did it. I didn't let fear win. I have been riding airplanes countless times now. I even started flying by myself again. I will totally admit that everytime I step into that plane I am scared out my mind, but I do it with prayer. I refuse to let go of an opportunity that could be a blessing on my life because of a fear that I have.

I love my life because of the risks I am willing to take. Those risks could be: making a new friend, getting my backside off the couch and going and spending time with an old friend, making the decision to adopt a child, joining another fire department, and the list goes on and on. Opportunities, both small and large, come up all of the time and there is probably some sort of risk to it but what kind of joy or blessing will you get out of it in the end? I am glad I had a chance to be a firefighter despite what happened. I am glad I got to become friends with some really cool FDNY firefighters only to have their friendships ripped away on 9/11. I am glad I spent a whole summer visiting burn camps across the country, even though that meant I had to be without John for that time. I am glad that I get on an airplane scared *&^$less because at least I am on it. I am glad that I have met so many awesome friends because I was willing to attend some sort of event alone. All of these things have made me a better person, a more fullfilled person.

Wow, God has been so good to me! I am eager for so many more opportunities to come my way. I am excited about experiencing life, the simple and the complex, the good and the bad, I want them all. I refuse to give into fear. I refuse to let anything or anyone steal my joy. I refuse to be lazy and miss out on an opportunity. I refuse to give into my self-doubt that might cause me to be too embarrassed to grab hold of an opportunity.

God has given me this awesome life and dang it, I am going to live the heck out of it!

Adoption Agency Picnic

2006-05-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our agency hosted their annual picnic. It was held at a park that was pretty close to our house. We met lots of new people and visited with friends we already knew. It was so much fun to see all of the children that have been adopted from all over the world.

John looking at ladybugs in flight.

Our friends Julie, Russ and their daughter Sara. They had bought a bag of live ladybugs to release. They symbolize good luck in the China adoption community.

After the picnic we went to eat dinner. Our small group friends Scott and Elisa joined us. They aren't in the picture though.

Sara is such a character. She is a busybody who loves to play with everything.

What Not to Watch Before One Flies

2006-05-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so if you are a nervous, freaked out flyer like I am, these are a couple of things you don't want to watch before your flight:

Anything that has to do with United 93, that include commercial trailers, the website or the whole movie. I FULLY support this movie and I think America's memory is fading but not a good thing to see.

Don't watch any type of current distressed airplane on the news. Yesterday for two and half hours, we watched on the local news a plane that was trying to land at Houston Intercontinental Airport (where John works). It had blown out it's tires as it was taking off. It had to burn off fuel before it landed so it just circled Houston for a couple of hours. Everything was being played out on all of our news channels. John wasn't working so of course I had to get a play by play of what was happening. About a zillion emergency crews were out there. Comforting but then again not really so much... I told John if I was on that plane he would need to have an ambulance on standby because I would take my whole bottle of valium. Of course I prayed hard and the plane landed perfectly. I still panicked and am now dreading my plane ride in two weeks. Note to self, don't watch a possible plane disaster in the making before flying.

On a much more positive note. I wanted to share what John did for me on my flight out to Indi. He was working that day. His station is centered on the taxi-way where the planes take off. He dropped me off at the gate and hurried back to the station. As we were throttling down the runway, I saw his station. He had pulled his truck out onto the driveway and had the boom up in the air with the light on. He was going to squirt the water but a smaller plane was taking off too and he didn't want to knock them out. It was so cool and I got a little teary eyed. It's an honor when a fire truck positions like that. They usually do that for pilots who are retiring. This was better than getting roses (although conffetti roses are still good once in a while ;OD) Here is what it looked like. Thanks babe!!

Beautiful Girl

2006-05-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

I missed my dogs and cats while I was gone. Chief followed me around for about 2 days. I took this picture because she was just being too cute. Isn't she a beautiful dog?

More Pictures From Indi.

2006-05-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in our booth.

Chaplain Jeff and his dogs. The dogs are used for fire prevention classes as well as search and rescue.

Our Basic Fire Chaplaincy class.

Train the trainer class. The dogs joined us for the class. They were so good!

America, It's Time to Call a May-Day

2006-05-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

In the firefighting industry when a firefighter is in trouble while fighting a fire, they call a may-day. It means they are in trouble and in need of help/rescue. I think that America is in trouble and needs to call a may-day.

This illegal immigration issue has gotten completely out of hand. How is it that a country has become so dependent on individuals who break our laws? How do American citizens become brainwashed to the point that they think it's okay for those who break our laws be rewarded? It makes me so angry that I have to pay a pretty hefty sum of money and fill out a mountain of paperwork and go through a background check just to get permission to bring my not-yet-adopted daughter over from China. How come I can't just plop her down into a plane seat and bring her to this country without all of the governmental red-tape and fees? What makes an illegal immigrant better than me or my daughter? What gives them the right to buck the system and yet we have to wade through the waters of legal immigration? I don't understand this concept of rewarding someone who commits a crime. This is something that needs to stop now or we will be a nation that panders to those who break our laws.

America- get on the radio and call for a may-day. This country is in trouble.

Captain John

2006-04-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

John has finally received his papers stating that he is officially a captain for the Houston Fire Department. He has to finish up with some logistics and then take a class and he will be released to work in his new rank. Congrats babe!!!!!!

A Plane Full of Firefighters

2006-04-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

For a nervous flyer, there isn't anything more comforting that to be on an airplane full of firefighters, even if the nervous firefighter is the one who is nervous. On the way out to Indianapolis and then on the way back home, my plane was crammed with firefighters and medics. One fire department in particular was on the same flights that I was on. It was pretty fun to meet up with them again at the end of the week.

On my flight back home, I was seated next to a firefighter who was not a fan of flying. As many of you know, I also don't like to fly and usually rely on the comforts of John and some Valium to get me through my travels. This was my first big flight without him in a long, long time. I did pretty good on my way out but of course I had my medicine. On the way back, I got so carried away conversating with my fellow firefighters at the airport that I forgot to take my medicine. I decided that I would try and make this flight without it.

While waiting for the plane to take off, I started talking to the guy next to me. He admitted that he was afraid to fly. I told him that I would share my stash of Valium if he needed it. He was pretty thankful but decided not to take any. He still seemed pretty scared as we were about to take off, so I decided to keep him talking to try and ease his mind a little. I laugh at the memory now because it's like the blind leading the blind. In reality, trying to keep him occupied and not thinking about his fears also helped me with mine. I gave up a lot of my usual comforts to try and comfort another firefighter. I gave him my seat by the window. I gave him my earphones so he could listen to the in-flight movie. I shared my newspaper with him. I shared my food with him. And I offered up my precious Valium.

When the plane ride started getting bumpy and my heart rate started to race, I decided that I wanted my medicine. I dug through my bag but came up empty handed. Luckily the guy next to me didn't need it. I realized I had packed the medicine and that I would have to make this flight drug free. I panicked for a few minutes. Then I looked around at all of the firefighters sitting around me. Many of them are friends of mine. I thought about how I would go into burning buildings with these people. I thought about how we would all risk our lives for one another. Somehow that eased my mind. We were all in this together. We were all part of a brotherhood. Being a firefighter creates a special bond and provides a sense of comfort.

As the plane was landing, we all chatted and laughed that we had survived another plane ride. More of the firefighters admitted their fears of flying. I laughed to myself, realizing that I wasn't the only one who didn't like to give up their control and their safety to another human being. I survived the ride without my medicine and with a lot of prayer. We were leaving the plane when one of my friends turned to me and said that a terrorist would never dare to try and take down a plane full of firefighters. So true I thought. So true........ A plane full of firefighters can do anything, including comforting other fearful firefighters.

Hotel Livin'

2006-04-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today I moved into a new hotel. The fire convention started today and I decided that it would be better to be closer to the convention center. So I packed up everything at my Greenfield hotel and moved into Indiana. From one home away from home to another.

I travel a lot so it seems like my second home is the hotel room. It's kind of wierd though being in another state without John. Most of my traveling is in Texas. If I am out of state, John is usually with me. It's a little lonely here without him.

The new hotel is great because I can finally connect to the internet on my own computer. I was always hogging Ed's computer. I have been having internet withdrawal!

This morning we started out with a brunch for the exhibitors at the Marriott. They had these giant cookies that were so good! I just love free food. :o) This is Ed's wife Gayle and me.

These two pictures are for my friend Heidi. Her son is a huge Colt's fan. When I saw this fire truck decked out as a Colts' truck, I had to take a picture for him. It was just too awesome!

I am so tired! This convention is GINORMOUS!!!!!!!!!! I did a lot of walking around the exhibits today and I think I got through about 1/4 of it. It was sensory overload. I also saw so many people that I knew. It's pretty crazy being in a differant state and seeing people you know from your home state. I talked and walked too much today, but I still don't think I have burned off all of the calories I have consumed from all of the good food out here.

Anyway, good night for now. Miss you babe!

Texan Feeling Very Cold In Indiana

2006-04-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

A cold front came through today and turned a beautiful and mild day into a cold, wet and dreary day. It's supposed to get into the 30's tonight and hover in the 50's tomorrow. Thank goodness I repacked for cold weather on Monday. At the last minute I looked at Weather Bug and saw that the warm weather was going to turn cold. I had packed all warm weather clothes. Thank goodness I checked, otherwise I would be up a creek!

The time is flying by here in Indi. We have one more day of chaplain class tomorrow and then we are heading to the FDIC convention. I am really looking forward to going. It's supposed to be the biggest convention in the US for the fire service. I am a little freaked out about the parking situation but I am praying that it will work out.

It's hard being out of town with the China referrals coming out this week. I am pretty depressed that they only got a week's worth of referrals out this time. The bad rumor was that they were only going to match dossiers from May 31, 2005 so it is a good thing that they did a full week instead of just one day. But still, if they continue to take one month's time to only do one weeks worth of referrals, it will be years before we get our baby. I don't even know what to think or to say. It makes me really sad. I know there is a plan, but right now those are just words. I want to be selfish and get our baby ASAP! I don't even know...sometimes I wonder if we should just jump ship to another country or to another program. In my heart though, I know our daughter is in China.

Hoosierville

2006-04-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

I have been in Indi for the past couple of days. I was pretty darn excited when I pulled up to the hotel and saw that they have free high speed internet. Of course it doesn't work for me. For whatever reason my ornary computer does not want to connect to the internet. I haven't been able to connect to the internet and it's been driving me crazy. I am totally going through internet withdrawal.

I was in class all day yesterday to become an instructor for fire chaplains, so I didn't have time to check the internet on my boss's computer. But today, I have finally scored some time to check emails and catch up on the blog. Today and tomorrow the FFC is teaching the Basic Fire Chaplains course. I don't have to teach until tomorrow, so I took over Ed's computer. This will be a brief update.

I plan on moving to another hotel on Thursday so that I can get closer to the convention that we have to go to next. Right now I am about 38 miles away from downtown Indi. Hopefully the next hotel will have internet access that I can connect to.

I miss you all so much!

Off to Indi

2006-04-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged in nearly a week! Sorry about that. I have so much to write about but there is always something else that is more pressing to do.

I am off to Indianapolis for a week. I am leaving today and will be back next Saturday. Unfortunately, John has to stay back and keep down the fort. Someone has to make a living I guess. Anyway, I am going to a chaplain's class to learn how to be an instructor and to also help teach. And then I will be going to a conference that is one of the largest in the fire industry. Should be lots of fun! I am really looking forward to it. I just HATE to fly.

On a totally differant note, I just wanted to thank my secret pal from my December DTC group for the beautiful ladybug pin. I love it! Thank you so much!

I am hoping that I will get a chance to blog while I am up there. Since I won't have a husband, or animals, or a house, or my friends to occupy me, or all of my commitments and jobs that I do, I should have some time in the evening to do some writing. If not, God bless your week!

Romantacizing Adoption

2006-04-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

(I don't know if I spelled the title right) I have been reading alot of transracial adoptee blogs lately, most of the adoptees being from asian decent. Those blogs have brought up a lot of emotion for me: doubt, guilt, sadness, and then a passion to educate myself on certain issues regarding adoption. There are many issues from these blogs that I want to blog about over the coming weeks, but I wanted to start off with the romantics of it all.

Ladybugs, panda bears, red threads, and cute little Chinese outfits seem to swirl around the hearts and minds of parents adopting from China. The good luck symbols and sweet accolades from Chinese folklore appear to make us dreamy eyed. We see a ladybug and it means that good luck is around the corner. That red thread is sure to connect us to our daughter an ocean away. We dream of her playing in the flowers in our gardens, swinging on the swings at the park, and snuggling with us in the evening. It's all very, very romanic.

Several of these adult adoptees scoff at these 'ladybug dreams.' But, I ask, is it so bad to have on rose tinted glasses if we also study up on the issues of transracial adoption? If we approach our child with eyes wide open, are ladybugs and panda bears the thing that makes us bad parents? I don't think so.

I think almost every parent that desires a child goes into their biological pregnancy or their paper pregnancy full of hopes and big dreams. We all wear rose tinted glasses because our hearts are full of love. We can't wait to share our lives and our experiences with another human being.

For those of us in the process of adopting, the journey is a long one and it's on a road that is full of boulders, hills, and valleys. We are so excited to have a little one on the other end of the wait, but yet sometimes we are hit with dissapointment and sadness. Like a woman in labor having to focus on a tiny object to help eleviate her pain, for us adopting parents having something to grasp onto, like a ladybug trinket, helps ease the these months long labor pains.

Good parents don't dwell on the romantic but they can revel in it. Good parents ensure that the child is loved and that everything about them, heritage and all, is embraced and celebrated. The ladybugs and panda bears are just the icing on the cake.

Easter Basket Surprise

2006-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

I was so surprised today when my friend Rebecca dropped an Easter basket off at the house. I wasn't home but John called to tell me I had it waiting for me. I wasn't expecting anything like that and it really made my day! I am going to be on a total sugar high for the next week!

Thanks Bec!

Happy Easter!

2006-04-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family!

We had a great Easter Sunday dinner with our friends from small group. I cooked all day and actually enjoyed it! I made stuffed mushrooms, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and a green bean stir fry. We ended up having so much food. I TOTALLY blew my 'good eating habits' . But I enjoyed every bit of it.

The guys had fun playing card games and the girls sat around and talked. It was so laid back and relaxing.

Saturday I spent the day with Lisa and Elisa (I am known as Dlisa because I want to be named Lisa like them LOL) shopping in Old Town Spring. That place is so amazing. It was my first time there and I had such a good. It was like walking back in time. They had lots of gift store, antique stores, metal crafts, toys, etc. I looked for baby things but didn't find too much that was totally outrageous. I did find this really awesome book about adoption:

I went to Heidi's house Saturday night and hung out for a while. Her nephew is going through the state police academy and he has these some really good stories about his experience. He is pretty darn funny too. I told him he should be a stand up comedian on the side. Heidi has such a neat family. I always have such a blast when I am with them.

Anyway, Happy Easter....Jesus is the reason for the season!

Secret Life of the Long-Term Waiting Parent

2006-04-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

(Found this online.....soo true)

Anger. "If there's one more delay, I'm really going to lose it. How come
16-year-olds are walking around the mall with babies and after years of effort, I'm still here with an empty crib and an overly quiet house? It ain't fair, it ain't fair, it ain't fair." (Repeat till you're thoroughly sick of yourself.)

Denial. "Maybe if I just grit my teeth, follow my normal routine, and wave off
questions about the adoption, I can fool myself into thinking that this doesn't hurt." (My fellow waiting parent Chris refers to this as the "just f--- it" attitude, and recounts the following typical interchange. Friend: "Any news from China?" Chris: "Nope." Friend: "When do you think you'll hear something?" Chris: "Beats me. How 'bout those Cubs?")

Compulsive Busywork. "Another month of delay. Great, I'll have time to [insert
laborious time-consuming project here]." (If this drags on much longer, we'll have the best-looking house on the block – but we're spending all our travel money on polyurethane, paint stripper, and drywall.)

It Could Be Worse. A mind game consisting of complaining to people who then come
up with scary adoption anecdotes, presumably to help you view your own situation
more positively. (Example: "You think you've got it bad? Let me tell you about my
sister's co-worker's cousin who went to Bora Bora to adopt and ended up having to [fill in the blank with horrifying details].")

Calendar-Based Mind Games. "Hey, our daughter will be here by [insert favorite
holiday or family milestone here]. Won't that be great?" (Warning: We have now passed a goodly number of our "She'll be here by…" assumptions, so this is a problematic strategy unless you're very conservative. "She'll be here for our 50th wedding anniversary" is probably a relatively safe assumption.)

Parental Paranoia. "Who's taking care of my child?" About six months into our
wait, I began feeling like I'd left a much-loved daughter halfway around the world, and she was getting pretty sick of waiting for me to come get her, and maybe physically sick, too. (Information about the effects of institutionalization exacerbates this sensation; be careful how you internalize it.)

So me right now!----------> Fear of Failure. "I can't do this parenting gig right. I'm going to screw it up. The kid's going to be unhappy and curse me for bringing her here. What on earth made me think this was a good idea?" (Anecdote: Find some happy adoptive families to coax you out of your mood.)

Toys-R-Us Phobia. I used to love shopping for my phantom baby girl. Now I can't
stand it. I've bought my last nipple till there's someone in my house to buy a nipple for.

Info-Phobia. I'm putting away the Leach and Brazelton books, the Lois Malina
adoption books, and all those other fabulous resources collected and eagerly assimilated over the past year. I loved 'em before; I'll love 'em again—but I just can't deal with 'em right now. Give me a big, fat, sleazy, escapist novel.

Serenity and Hope. An all-too-transient state in which I convince myself that
God is in control, that the adoption will happen at the right time, that we'll be assigned the right child, and that all will be most well. (Pulling this off on a daily basis would require more spiritual maturity than I possess--though I really do believe it, way down deep. Or I'd havegone nuts by now.)

Look Who Came for a Visit!

2006-04-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

I had my back door open this evening because the weather outside is so nice and I absolutley refuse to turn on the air-conditioner unless it's neccessary. I am trying to gear ourselves up for the BIG rate hike this summer. Anyway, I went to close the door and saw this big, long slug half-way wrapped around the door frame. I was checking him out when Ashes decided to come and see what I was up too. She started batting at it for a second until she realized it made her paw sticky...Yuck!

Then I went out in the front yard to let the dogs out and check on a plant and I happened upon this little critter:

Seems like summer is just around the corner, which is why I decided to do some eBay shopping tonight for some more baby clothes. I found and won these cute little clothes! I am so in love with the baby stuff!

It's back to bed for me so I can try and get better.

Blogger or My Computer is sooooo SLOW

2006-04-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

I was going to update the blog tonight with some pictures and stuff but blogger (or it could be my computer) is acting incredibly sloooooooooooooooooooow.

I have been sick for the last couple of days so I have been living in a fog. I am starting to feel better tonight but still not 100%. I have a busy weekend ahead, so I need to snap out of this! BLAH!

Extreme Home Makeover- Sabine Pass

2006-04-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a blurb on the set we worked on: Friday, April 14, 8/7c
"After the Storm: Texas"
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition rebuilds beloved community touchstones in hurricane-ravaged Sabine Pass, Texas, including the town's only firehouse and its theatre. Rock group the Goo Goo Dolls throw a surprise concert for the town.

Baby Expo

2006-04-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

John and I were in class for most of the weekend. We are both pretty tired of being in the classroom. Sunday we decided to have some fun and go to the Baby Expo in Houston. It was held at the Reliant Center, so it was pretty big. We got to look at tons of great products and learn about differant formulas. Similac even gave us a really cool gift box with a teddy bear, picture frame, a baby book, and a sample of their formula. I think we were the only ones who got the box. It was super cool!
I was a little dissapointed though because the expo was put on by WalMart so pretty the only products they had there were things offered by WalMart. All in all though we had fun and got a ton of samples!

After the expo I was supposed to go get some scrapbooking done with Heidi and Rebecca. Unfortunately, there was a firefighter fatality and I had to go to work. So the weekend ended up on a not so good note.

Baby Cuteness

2006-04-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and bought some baby clothes. This adoption just doesn't quite feel real yet. We seem so far away from our referral, much less traveling to China. The news of referral time waits going up has been incredibly depressing. I just felt like maybe starting the process of getting ready for the baby will help us feel closer to getting her.

Alot of my friends go resale shopping for their kids. I love thrift stores. I got that from my Mom. She has awesome stores out in California and I am so jealous. Anyway, babies grow so fast that often times the clothes are in really great shape. I could even find some brand new, never been worn clothes for $1.50! I hit the thrift stores with my friend Rebecca and managed to find some very cute clothes, including a froggy bathrobe. Washing those clothes and looking at them has really lifted my spirits. I feel a little closer to her.

We are going to start collecting things for her nursery and for her over the coming months. It will be more cost effective and won't put such a financial strain on us when we get closer to going to China. We still haven't figured out a good time to register for items. I think we will wait until we get our referral.

Good news! I think my sister might try to go to China with us! I really, really, really hope that she can go. I think it would be so fun to have her there as moral support, to take pictures, to share the experience since she wants to adopt and to help us out. I am praying so hard that this will work out!

A&M Fire Training Weekend

2006-04-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Is it really Wednesday?

This past weekend we spent up at A&M Fire School. It was a special training event for Harris County Firefighters Association. John took a class and I taught a class. It's so wierd because I have gone up to weekend and week long training so many times and have even scored an instructors position and yet this is John's first time going. He's lived in Texas his entire life and has been in the fire service for what seems to be forever and he has never gone. He has gone to the fire field for his airplane firefighting classes but never for the infamous weekend/week long.

This training school is supposed to be the be-all, end-all of fire training in the United States. It's actually pretty amazing. They have a mock airplane, a ship, Am-Trak trains that are piled up as if they were in an accident, and disaster city which is a mock up of a city that has gone through a disaster. Imagine that. Anyway, they also have tons of differant types of structures and industrial units that they use to practice firefighting. Firefighters really do get state of the art training there. I think it's pretty cool that I get to be one of their instructors.

Guess What It Is Friday-New Prize Today

2006-03-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

For December DTC Group- All you have to do is post to the Yahoo Message Board what you think this item might be. The first person to get it correct will win this fabulous prize:

Here is a blurb about it from Paper Wishes:
A hint of the Far East. In response to popular demand, we’ve created an Asian art collection, filled with beautiful images of the Far East. Flowers, Asian characters, chops, bridges, vintage travel posters, bamboo plants, ships and cranes are a few of the 203 motifs you’ll find. All images are printed onto paper that matches those in Textured Papers #2. Simply cut or tear out the images, then collage them, use them on cards, tag art, altered books and more.

Crazy Week

2006-03-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

It's just been an insane week. John worked 48 hours in a row. Usually he works 24 and is off 24 but he traded time. While it's been somewhat quiet around here, I have been crazy busy. I had a deadline for work to get done and our organization website to be updated. We had fire department stuff going on. And we have weekend stuff that we are planning for.

The China adoption rumors are about to drive me mad but they are incredibly addicting. Before I was DTC I was able to cut myself off from the message boards and websites, but now that we are in the waiting game it's incredibly difficult to not be a part of the rumor mill. I was so incredibly saddened by the 5 days of referrals. It sounds like our wait time has increased from 8 months to 12 months. Meaning, we won't get our referral until December. I am still holding out hope and praying that we will get our referral in October. We shall see though.

And My disappointment with EHM Continues

2006-03-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

As if my experiences with the Extreme Home Makeover weren't disappointing enough, John happened upon this article on The Smoking Gun website: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0327062extreme1.html

I remember about 3 years ago, the casting department called my organization looking for a widow of a fallen firefighter who's house they could make over. The problem is, they wanted a widow that also had a very sick child. I thought that was a little bizarre. This article takes the cake! Exploitation maybe? You be the judge.

Life is Precious

2006-03-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

Oh wow what a weekend. It was like the craziness of a full moon had taken over a new moon weekend. Saturday didn't even really start off calm. I was supposed to go thrift store shopping for baby items with a new friend (who is also adopting from China) but had to cancel because we had meetings at the fire department. I was really bummed because I wanted to hang out with her and see what was out there for babies. Usually I go to the thrift stores for other things. Even though I don't really plan on buying baby clothes for a couple more months, I thought it would be fun to go.

John and I headed over to the fire station and instead of a meeting we ended up getting toned out to a grass fire. We stood around there for a while, came back to the station and had our meeting. We ended up tinkering around with the bay door and broke it.

At 4pm we were going to the other side of Houston to meet up with a family that has already adopted from China and is in the process of adopting their second. They are such a great family and their daughter is just too cute. Since they are with the same agency we are, we had the chance to watch their video in China and see who our guide was going to be. We also got to see what the hotels looked like and some of the sites we would be visiting. It was so informative and so neat to watch their experiences unfold.

They also showed us a picture that the guide had given them of an abandoned baby. He wanted the family to know that many of the babies that are abandoned are wanted and they are loved. The picture showed a baby in a boxed that was tucked in with blankets. There was a bottle with formula, a bag with clothes, and a bag with wipes in them laying at the head of the box. This baby had been cared for for a little while. It was so heartbreaking to see the reality of abandonment. We can conjure up images in our head but until we actually see it, it doesn't quite hit us as hard. Hopefully that little baby is in the arms of a loving family.

We got back home pretty late. We were checking blogs and email when a fire tone came in for a possible suicide. So we headed out to the station to pick up the fire truck. When we got there, the other fire crew had beat us there and had already started working on the guy. There was nothing I could do as a first responder so I went into chaplain mode. Because of confidentiality, I can't give out too many details. I will say that suicide is incredibly heartbreaking for all involved. There was a wife and kids and of course many beloved friends. The irony of this particular case is, the victim and his family were throwing a 40th birthday party for a friend. The house was decked out in grave, ghost, and death decor. I felt pretty bad for the person who's birthday it was.

So many different things can cause a person to choose this pathway. Incredible pain, anger, feeling trapped, bitterness, revenge...whatever the motive is, it's difficult to truly understand why this was their choice. We ended up staying on the scene for a couple of hours.

For the little baby in China, abandonment was rock bottom for her. She, unwillingly and by her parents circumstances, had hit rock bottom. Where she would go from there, God only knows. Her life is precious and she deserves to be cared for and loved by a family. For the man who committed suicide, his final act was rock bottom for him. Unfortunately he can't come reverse that decision. It doesn't matter what kind of problems he had or what he was struggling with, his life was precious to those who loved him. He deserved to find the help he needed. The biggest consolation for the family is that he was a Christian and had gone to be God....the one being who believes ALL life is precious.

The Adventures of Dyson Head

2006-03-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

Okay I know that I am about to blow my cover and let you all know how truly wierd my sense of humor is but these were just too good not to share with you.

Today we broke down and bought a Dyson vaccuum cleaner. Wow! That was a big investment. I had buyer's remorse as soon as I walked out of the door. The problem started when last night I had to get on my hands and knees to vaccuum with the little wand because the regular part of the vaccuum was not picking anything up. I was so frustrated that when John walked into the kitchen, I held up the wand and said I was breaking up with my vaccuum.

Well we went to Best Buy and looked at some cheaper versions but the Dyson (which I secretly have drooled over for several years) had the word Animal written on it. This vaccuum specializes in picking up animal hair. Now you are talking to me! With four animals, not including my husband, running around I needed some serious suction action going on! I couldn't bring myself to look at a Hoover or the Eureka with the cool yellow duster. They even let us use it in the refrigerator section. I was hooked and therefore bought.

I get home and I was a little down about making a big purchase and I was really down about the whole rumor thing with China, so I called up Rebecca to brag...well I mean really get her opinion on Mr. Dyson. The craziness then began to unfold. She first said that I needed to make a scrapbook page about my Dyson. Then she said I needed to cut his head off the box and leave it in strange places to freak John out. Well, I cut his head out and ran over to Rebecca's house. We couldn't contain ourselves with the digital camera. We have the same sense of humor as does our friend Heidi and my sister Elizabeth. My Mom even gets a good laugh out of our crazy antics. Ok moving on...we just had to pose Dyson Head in differant poses...chasing the dog who was growling at Dyson Head, kissing it, talking on the phone and even skate boarding! We might have to start a whole new blog about the Adventures of Dyson Head. It was so funny and it totally lifted my spirits! We are moving Dyson Head over to Heidi's for some photo ops next.

Thoughts About Adoption vs. Pregnancy and Waiting

2006-03-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

There are so many of us in the China adoption circle that are so dissapointed with the news of only 5 days worth of dossiers being matched with children. I don't care what the excuse is, valid or not, this is agonizing news. We are left in limbo about when we can expect our child. Will the referral come in September or in January of 2007? Right now, we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. I thought we would once our paperwork went to China. Didn't see it, because I wanted our log in date. We got our LID and I thought I saw a glimmer of light and then today the news hit and now I am not so sure that was a glimmer that I saw. This whole process has felt like one step forward, two steps back. It seems that each time we check something off of the to do list, our child moves farther away. I can't tell you how agonizing this wait is. We are emotionally pregnant without a due date in site. Can you imagine telling a pregnant woman that she might be due at month 9 or hmmmmmmm maybe month 12 but the longest wait could be 15 months. That's us.

I watch my friends and family members get pregnant after we got our paperwork complete and expect their babies way before we will even get our referral and it's tough. They talk happily with those who have been in their shoes before...they talk about the doctors visit and the ultrasounds and the food cravings. When it comes to us, they don't know what to say or ask except, how is the adoption process going? They don't ask how we are feeling, what are we doing to prepare, what the process is like and what I am craving (which would be Easter candy right now, even though I am watching my calories.) It's hard not to be a part of that 'mommy crowd.' But my relief for that is I do have some friends that really care about this process and I have made new friends in the adoption community that are walking this journey with us. And I am so forever grateful for that.

What I can't stand now is that comment that I think every waiting family hears at least a zillion times when something goes wrong, 'God has the perfect baby for you and you will get her on His time.' Or my other favorite, 'You will forget all about the pain of waiting once you hold your baby in your arms.' At first I did take a little comfort in those words. I said them to myself. Then I realized that those words are actually more inflammatory than they are helpful. No one would ever say these things to someone who has miscarried why should they be said to us when we hear devestating news? I know that God has picked out our child for us, but that doesn't make me want to rush over to China and just hold her any less. It makes me want her more, but when will that be? When is it our turn?

The other adage that I keep hearing on message boards is that we just need to keep ourselves busy during the wait. Are you freaking kidding me??? What am I doing, sitting in front of the TV all day eating bon bons and crying about my referral? I have a full and busy life right now as it is. I am busy with running a company, being a chaplain, being a wife, and being a friend. I travel and I teach. I scrapbook and I sew. I have tons on my plate thank you very much. I just can't be busy with the baby stuff until we are a little closer to our referral. I will stay extra busy buying clothes now. I think I will start ASAP.

So today has been a bad day for me and for many, many other waiting parents. Of course mine isn't great because I have been stuck on the couch watching Little House on the Prairie because of my knee. I have been stuffing my face with Peeps and that is some comfort. If I could just get a hold of a Cadbury egg, I would be excited.

Please don't feel bad if you have said the above things to us. At one point in time it did help. I guess we are finally get to the part of the wait where it hurts more than it helps. I just wanted to share our honest thoughts.

Today, I HATE the Wait!

2006-03-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

Well the rumors have been flying and apparently they have been confirmed today. China has only matched 5 days worth of dossiers. Only one freaking week! WTH???? It's taken them nearly 3 months to match children with everyone who turned dossiers in in May. At this rate I feel like we will be grandparents before we get to be parents! I don't want to hear about the right child will come at the right time...that's all just words to me right now! They are supposed to do a month's worth of referrals, not 5 days! I am so sad and dissapointed today.

Darn it!

2006-03-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

I have been doing so good about riding my stationary bike 9 miles every day. I have been working on getting into shape and getting myself as healthy as possible before the baby arrives. Then yesterday I ruined it all! I tripped over the sprinkler in the front yard and messed up my knee. I didn't break it but I think I either strained it or sprained it. Now I am walking like a gimp. This does not fit into my plans!

Life has been a little slow lately. I am preparing to teach for weekend fire school coming up the first weekend in April. After that I will be heading into Indianapolis. But for the time being, I am just hanging out with friends, working, and doing a lot of 'fluff' reading. I need to get started on doing some more reading on adoption and preparing for our child.

Failed Adoptions

2006-03-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

I have been so sad and angry for this stranger who lost her daughter (see post below). She had to give her little one back to the birth mother after she had this child in her care for several days. This is known as a failed adoption. In the adoption world, this is equivelant to experiencing the death of child. It's incredibly painful for the adoptive parents.

I can appreciate the pain of the birth mother having to give her child up but I am going to take sides with the adoptive parents. I really, really believe that this system here in America concerning adoption is a flawed system, hence one of the many reasons we have chosen to adopt outside of the country. This situation should have never happened. I personally believe that once the child is born the birth parents should sign the legal documents relinquishing their rights within 24 hours. Once these papers are signed the child can no longer be handed back to the birth parents. No waiting period for days. No putting the parents in limbo wondering if the birth parents will want the baby back.

I hope that this family finds comfort and peace with this situation. Their loss is every adoptive parent's loss. We grieve with them.

It's Here Again- Guess What It Is Friday!

2006-03-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

For December DTC Group- All you have to do is post to the Yahoo Message Board what you think this item might be. The first person to get it correct will win two sets of sticker sheets. One is about adoption and the other is about motherhood. To see a blurry picture of what it looks like just scroll down to February 17. Happy guessing!!

A Very Sad Story on a Failed Adoption

2006-03-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

This will break your heart: http://noragriffin.typepad.com/ndg/

A Self Portrait

2006-03-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

In the photography & scrapbooking world, self portraits in the mirror are a big thing. If you paruse through message boards, you will see icons and signature bars made with photographs of the individual taking an artistic photo of their reflection. I decided to poke a little fun at this by taking my own self portrait in a mirror......inside of a porta-potty. :oD I figured that my friends would get this humor.

The thing that cracked me up the most was the fact of how spontaneous this whole thing was. I was inside this thing when we were on the set of EHM and I marveled at the fact that it had a mirror in it. Seriously?? If you had to use one of those things, I think hair or makeup is the least of your worries. Only in Hollywood. So I stood there for a second marveling over this when the idea popped in my head. Let me tell you, it's not an easy task trying to take a picture of oneself inside of a porta-potty! I did it for you Heidi & Rebecca!

Dr. Grey or the Real CSI?

2006-03-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Darn it, we missed the last 10 minutes of Grey's Anatomy! We were buried into the couch watching our(or my) Sunday addiction, Grey's Anatomy, when the fire pager went off. Soooooo rude! :o) I was happy to respond though because now we have that magical device called DVR and I hit pause. Wow! Pausing live TV?? How is awesome is that? Anyway, I figured that because the call was a vehicle fire, we would be in and out pretty quickly. No such luck. Murphy from Murphy's Law would wreak a little havoc on me.

We pulled up to the scene only to find that someone had tossed an acid bomb into the back of someone's truck. Come to find out this poor family was also watching Grey's Anatomy when they were rudely interrupted by this act of violence. I am telling you! The nerve of some people!

There wasn't much damage to the truck but we did get to play with the foam unit on the new fire truck. Since it was a criminal act, we had to wait for cops and for the fire marshall to arrive on scene. The fire marshall was on the other side of Houston, so we sat on scene for about 45 minutes and talked Grey's Anatomy, CSI, and other bits and pieces of small talk.

Finally the fire marshall shows up and does his thing. Evidence bagss...little bottles...pictures...sniffing around...statements... It was so much less thrilling than any of the 3 CSI shows (I watch Vegas on a regular basis, used to watch Miami until I got tired of the guy with the badge and cheesy one liners, and NY ). I told him I wanted to know answers and have a suspect in custody in 58 minutes. He just laughed. Reality isn't real and apparently neither is CSI. Oh well, as long as I don't have to meet the cast or watch it being filmed, I will continue to be a fan.

We dragged our tired selves back home to watch the last 10 minutes of my show when horror of all horrors, the pause button only works for 2 hours. We were gone for 2 hours and 3 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANG IT ALL TO HECK!!!!!!! So if anyone knows what happens at the end of the show, please be kind to your friendly firefighter and fill me in. :o)

Other weekend events that were thrilling but a lot less frustrating were hanging out with Heidi for the day. We even hit up the snow cone store! I have been waiting for this place to open all season long. This place is my diet in the summer. I even managed to throw together a flower arrangement for her. She wanted one for a dining room table, so I told her I could scrape something together for her. ;oP

Guess What It Is Friday!

2006-03-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Proud of Myself and Scared as Heck

2006-03-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post that I, yes me, Wendy C. Norris, has made two (count them 1...2) plane reservations to fly out of Texas all by my lonesome self!! I will be going to Indianapolis next month and then to Baltimore in May. John can't go with me on either trip, so I have to endure the fear of flying all by myself. I HATE to fly, so I am going to be needing to make a doctor's appointment real soon to get myself some Valium. Happy Pills! :o)

Here and There

2006-03-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

Usually after I work something big like a line of duty death or a disaster, the days following I am thrown off. I have a hard time concentrating or getting much done. I think it's because I am coming off an adrenaline high. These scenes are full of 'excitement' and the hours are long, the adrenaline keeps you going. It's almost like my body forces me to rest. So for the past couple of days I have been wondering why I have been in this 'after disaster' mode. I think I finally figured out why today...Sabine Pass.

The EHM was a lot of fun and it was no where near the type of stress I have felt in New Orleans or on line of duty death situations. We did a lot of manual labor and there was some tension between individuals but it seemed more like good stress than negative stress. But there was one thing on that set that kept getting to me. The crew had a ton of white vans that reminded me of the body recovery vans in New Orleans. Of course these vans on the set were used for equipment but they looked exactly like the ones used after the disaster. Every time I saw one, I thought about some of the things we did and some of the things we saw down in New Orleans and St. Bernards Parish. I have been thinking about it on and off for the last couple of days, how wierd it is that something as simple as a white van can be forever burned in our brain as a symbol of an event.

My guess is that being back on a disaster scene where devastation was still in full affect and seeing the white vans got me hyped up more than I thought. I have so much to do but I am having a hard time concentrating. As the days go by I get a little more done. I got a lot more done today than I did yesterday. It just takes some time to get back to normal.

On a funny note, last night we took the dogs for a walk and for the first time since we moved to the new house, Ashes (our cat) went with us. It's a long walk around the block but she managed to follow us about 3/4 of the way. We were almost home when she gave out and decided to lie down in the street. I had to carry her the rest of the way and let me tell you, she does not like to be held. It was quite a feat to get that cat back to the house!

More Extreme Home Makeover-Our Saturday Trip

2006-03-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday we brought the firetruck up to the EHM set. We also brought our Class A uniforms. We really wanted to have a good firefighter presence for both the show and the public that were there. It seems like firefighters only come out for other firefighters when a firefighter dies. It was important for us to come out and support these guys during a happy event.

Saturday went so much better. After the crazy 100 mile ride in the fire truck (it's so not comfortable) we arrived ready to go. We did more work with the production crew and getting the fire station ready for reveal. We had a great time talking to the photographers and videographers, the production crew, and the Port Arthur FD.
We helped bring the furniture inside, assisted with finishing up special projects, and helped with the public.

Apparently this is dangerous work. I ended up with bruises everywhere, a gash on my head, and scratches on my arm. What the heck?? I didn't do anything to warrent these semi-injuries. But somehow I ended up with them.

Moving on....One of our captains brought t-shirts and patches to hand out to the crew. Apparently fire t-shirts are a hot commodity with them. They were loving us. One of the firefighters ended up giving his badge to one of the head production guys and after that we were treated like gold. We even got to eat lunch with the cast and the crew.

Again, I was dissapointed that the cast members were not a part of putting the final touches on the building. Ty didn't even show up. We stayed long enough for the reveal but we didn't stay for the surprise, which they revealed an hour after the firefighters got to see the new fire station. So unless Ty showed up with the surprise, he wasn't even their for the reveal. Mike and Pauly were the ones who did the 'Move that bus' moment.

One cool thing before I forget...my picture, my fire department and a quote that I said are in the Beaumont newspaper. Here is a link.

I can't reveal too much about the show or put up many of the pictures that I took until the show airs (April 13). We had to sign all of these forms and legal documents stating that we can't post vital pictures or information. I totally don't want to be sued by ABC. LOL So here are some not so vital pictures from our time in Sabine Pass:

Guess What It Is Friday! (Sort of)

2006-03-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

Reality is not Real

2006-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent the day on the set of Extreme Home Makeover. They are in Sabine Pass, TX rebuilding an auditorium, and the fire/police station. I was excited about the chance of hanging out on the film set, especially for a show that I liked. I don't watch it that often anymore but I still admired what they did. Man was I dissapointed with the whole thing.

I am not going to go into detail about what I did there. I am going to save that for another post (probably Sunday because we are going back to the set on Saturday). What I will say is how dissapointed I was with the cast, especially Ty. I was dissapointed that the cast didn't stay there during the remodeling. They have like 3 other filmings going on at the same time. So they come in and do their 10 minutes of shooting and then fly off to their next shoot (or wherever else they go). I was there for over 12 hours and we saw the cast twice. ALL of the rebuilding was being done by the hired construction company and their employees.

The cast weren't very friendly, except for one. Their famous bus got stuck in the mud (more of that on the other post too) and me and the guys from my fire department got them unstuck. We did not get a thank you from any of them.

Ty would only take a picture with us after we reminded him that we got his bus unstuck from the mud. Nice huh??

Basically the set was a big construction site. No actors hanging around. What was so ironic to me was, the public sat in their designated viewing area to watch the building while down the street the Army Corps of Engineers were rebuilding another city building. Nobody could care less about the work they were doing. Nobody wanted to sit and watch the Army Corps rebuilding. It's crazy that stardom and celebrity makes something important.

I came away from the experience disinfranchised about the whole thing. I thought the cast would be nicer. I thought they were more involved with the project. I thought it would be differant.

Reality isn't real. I am so over celebrities...not that I was ever that into them to begin with.

Self Portrait Tuesday-Damaged Goods

2006-02-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

February's theme for Self Portrait Tuesday has been a difficult one for me. The theme is about looking deeper into yourself and embracing the not so pretty side or our not so perfect parts. I don't want to share my imperfections with close friends much less strangers on the internet. So, for most of the month I haven't posted anything on this theme.

Then last night I came up with the picture I wanted to use. It's a picture of an x-ray of my lungs after my injury. I think all of my friends and family members know my story and how my lungs became 'damaged goods.' But for those of you who might be browsing through, here is a one sentence synopsis: My lungs were burned when part of a ceiling/roof collapsed on me while I was fighting a fire. The damage is permanent and I can no longer fight fire.

So for me, these lungs symbolize everthing that is not pretty or perfect about me. Before these lungs were damaged I felt like I was capable of conquering the world, that I was beautiful and strong, and that my life was, well, pretty close to perfect. But when my world came crashing down on me on that fateful day, I felt like I lost it all. I couldn't exercise for a long time and I had to take high dose steroids to keep my lungs functioning. So I gained a lot of weight and I felt like I became ugly. I couldn't be a firefighter anymore because my lungs no longer functioned at a normal capacity. Any more exposures could cause my death. I no longer was strong or capable of 'saving the world.' These lungs became the bane of my existance.

For a long time I wallowed in my pain and in my circumstances and then I decided to do something about it. Since then, those lungs have been the reason I started an organization to help firefighters, they are the reason why I have become a fire chaplain, they are the reason I can comfort others who have been injured, they are one of the many reasons I am adopting a daughter from China. I worked hard to get off my medicines and to build my capacity. And today I am a lot better. I still haven't lost all of the weight I gained but I can walk and ride bikes and live my life. I lived, I did not die...these lungs, although damaged goods, survived a terrible injury and are allowing me to live the good life.

California Dreamin'

2006-02-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

The smell of my new pink Jasmine gently drifts through my office window. When I walk out my front door I can smell it and it takes me back to my parent's back porch on their home in California. The days have been beautiful with perfect temperatures. All these things take me back. Even though Texas is my home and I am proud to be a transplanted Texan, my heart will always belong to California and the beauty that it bestows. I really, really miss it sometimes.

I am getting ready to head out on Wednesday for Sabine Pass and the Extreme Home Makeover build that is going on. I haven't heard too much word back from those who are already down there but it does sound like they are having a blast! I can't wait to go. I have a ton of things to do before I leave but I do know that I am going to try and rest as much as possible because I don't want to get so tired that I get sick.

No word on the adoption yet. We are just living our lives while we wait and enjoying every minute of life. I want to be able to take advantage of as many opportunities as I can. Because once the baby comes, I won't be able to do these things anymore or at least to a way lesser degree.

Guess What It Is Friday!

2006-02-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it's Friday again!? Where is the time going??? This is a good thing though because we are one week closer to get our baby! Since it's Friday, that means it is Guess What it is Friday for my friends in my December DTC group. All you have to do is post to the Yahoo Message Board what you think this item might be. The first person to get it correct will win two sets of sticker sheets. One is about adoption and the other is about motherhood. To see a blurry picture of what it looks like just scroll down to February 17. Happy guessing!!

Excitement Abounds........

2006-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well to start off with the most boring update...I finished sewing my new summer purse. It was a Sewing for Dummies pattern so I thought it would be pretty easy, it wasn't. It did turn out pretty darn cute though!

Now some semi-exciting news- John and I tested out for our 'black helmet' last night at the fire department. That means we will no longer be probies! No more wearing orange stickers on our helmets and standing out in the crowd of firefighters. It's only taken me a year. John a few months. I have to admit that I was being a little lazy but John little the fire under my backside to get the test done. We basically had to memorize where everything was at on the fire truck. Where's the pick-head axe? Where's the hot stick? Stuff like that. I am really glad to finally rid the orange stickers.

Now for some super exciting news! Nooooooooo it's not about the adoption. Sorry! We still have a few more months before we know anything about that. Next week I am going to go help out on the set of Extreme Home Makeover! I will be part of a firefighter crew that will be feeding the workers and contracters and the famous people like Ty! They are rebuilding a fire station/police station/library in Sabine Pass, TX. My chaplain buddy Ken is helping to head up some of the firefighters that will be working and told me about the gig. So next week we will be spending three days hanging out and feeding the people. Wooo Hoo!

Starbucks Blah.......

2006-02-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

It's like 30something degrees here in Houston. I, who have now become a cold wimp since moving to Texas, do not handle this weather very well. I like the cold and I like cold weather clothes (just ask my Mom) but I can only handle it in small doses. So what's better on a cold day than hot chocolate? I really don't go to Starbucks all that often but they have the best hot chocolate. Perfect for cold weather. Well, I ordered their Grande sized new premium carmel hot chocolate. BIG mistake! I feel so nauseated now. It was too much of a good thing. And then I had to make it worse by visiting the website and looking up the nutritional value of the hot chocolate. It has 25 freaking grams of fat in it!!!!!!!! Who knew I could order it with non-fat milk??? I am not a Starbucks regular! No wonder I am totally feeling the blahs right now.

The Lantern Festival was cancelled for tonight. I was dissapointed but I was glad that they didn't do it because of the cold weather. I wouldn't have been able to handle hanging out at the lake in the cold. It's rescheduled for next week though and I am praying for good weather.

My friend Heidi and I did get some scrapping in at the scrapbook store in Kemah. Beth who owns the Scrapbook Junkie has added on to her store buy renting out space on the second story of the building she is in. It's such an awesome room to hang out and work on scrapbooks. It's painted in beautiful colors and it's so warm and cozy. If you ever head out to Kemah, TX, you need to check out her store: http://www.ascrapbookjunkie.com/

Guess What It Is Friday

2006-02-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

I am starting a new game for my DTC Dec. group (these are all of the people who got their adoption paperwork to China in December.) Every Friday I will be posting a picture of an object. The first person to guess what it is will get a set of adoption stickers and motherhood stickers donated by Karen Burniston of Creative Imaginations. Here is what the adoption stickers look like:

Here is the object:

email me at wendy@firefighterministries to guess what it is!

A Little Piece of Advice

2006-02-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

I took the dogs for a long walk today. We went out to the fields behind my sub-division. My advice? Never walk through a field with flip flops! I had all kinds of dried weeds and shrubbery poking into my feet. Even though the dogs had a great time running around, I cut it short because I was getting poked so much.

I am supposed to go to a Chinese Lantern event with the Families with Children from China group on Saturday but I am afraid it's going to be rainy and a little too cold. We were hoping to get some landscaping done too but I think this weekend will be a bust. It might be a stay in bed and read all day kind of thing. We shall see though.

Ring Bling

2006-02-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

John really surprised me today by buying me a 10th anniversary eternity ring. We aren't into Valentines Day all that much because our anniversary is on the 11th. That day is more important to me than any other day.

I have been wanting an eternity band so that I can wear that to the fire department instead of either wearing nothing or wearing my regular ring. My regular wedding ring gets caught on equipment or tears up medical gloves. I don't want to damage the ring so most of the time I don't wear anything at all when I am responding. My finger always feels naked though.

Sooooooooo, today my friend Rebecca and I helped a local florist deliver flowers. While we were gone, John went to the jewelry store and picked out my new ring. After we were done with the deliveries, we decided to go pick John up and go eat sushi for lunch. When we swung by the house, John told us both to come inside. And there sitting on a new recumbant bike that I have been begging for sat this teddy bear and card. I picked up the bear and noticed it had a backpack on it. I was thinking it was so cute! But then I noticed the backpack said Helzberg Diamonds and I flipped out! I opened the box and it had my pretty new ring. I just love it! Here is a picture:

After sushi, Rebecca dropped us off and John and I went running around. Ever since then we have just been couch potatoes!

Happy Valentines Day!

A Girl's Day Out

2006-02-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

John is working today, so after church I went with my girlfriend's Elisa and Lisa to the Houston Home & Garden Show. I felt out of place because my name did not contain lisa in it, so for the day I renamed myself Welisa (pronounced way-lisa). I had to fit in, come on now!

The show was okay. I was hoping for more gardening stuff but it was mostly counter tops, as seen on tv junk, mattresses, and gutters. I was a little dissapointed. However, we went to the cooking demonstration with a chef from PeiWei (awesome Chinese food). He made it up to us but preparing a yummy salad and some knock out Thai curry chicken. It was so good!

After that I dropped by Heidi's house to hang out for a while. It's becoming my Sunday ritual. We chit chatted, talked about getting off of the couches, didn't do it, talked some more, and then got up to eat some brisket and chips! MMM Heidi's Mom and husband are excellent cooks.

I just love, love, love my girlfriends! They make my life so rich!

Families with Children From China-Houston Chinese New Year Party

2006-02-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Families with Children from China-Houston annual Chinese New Year party was yesterday evening. We went to this big Chinese ball room for dinner and entertainment. There was probably about 250 people that attended. We had such a good time watching the kiddos, meeting new people, and meeting up with new friends.

The little girl that I met at the last dinner that just loved my hair was at this dinner as well. Of course she just had to play with my hair again:

This is John and I at our table. We had some pretty interesting Chinese food for dinner. The egg rolls were good. :o) The chicken head...didn't want to even try it.

Part of the entertainment was the dragon dances. I loved this part. The dragons danced up and down the aisles.

Fly Lady Bug Fly!

2006-02-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the mega cold front came through...well at least it's mega for Houston. I love it when one of these big bands of rain comes through because one minute it's just a little dark and the next it's really, really dark. Then the wind picks up and the rain hits. I had just bought this garden flag with a lady bug on it and the wind was really whipping it! I thought it was going to fly away!

I have a bunch going on this weekend. Last night was our small group and I just love that group. We are doing a great study called God is Closer than you Think. It's just so much fun to share our lives with other people.

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary! Where has the time gone?? I can't believe we have already hit that mark. I am starting to feel old now. We really aren't doing anything because we already had a big trip in October to Canada. But today we have a big Chinese New Year party with our adoption group. I can't wait because there are all kinds of super cool activities planned. I will post pictures ASAP.

And here is my latest layout. Sorry for the big flash in the picture.

New Layout

2006-02-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my latest layouts for my 2005 Year In Review album. This is for the month of April when my Mom came out for our house blessing. These colors are so new for me. Usually I just use red, black, and earth tones. So this layout was super fun for me and I love how it turned out!

Today I am a little sad because it's my sister's last day at work. I won't be able to email her everyday now. Her and her husband have exciting things coming up in their lives and they are preparing for life in the military. I am trying to convince her to come visit me. :o)

The Art of Dog Walking

2006-02-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

I have fallen off the wagon on my daily walks. So this morning I decided to take the dogs with me on my walk for some entertainment. I have learned some valuable lessons from this experience. Here they are in random order:

1. Walking more than one dog is darn near impossible. Any movie that I have seen that involves a dog walker walking more than two dogs, those extra dogs are just super-imposed onto the film. They just have to be!

2. Walking a dog burns more calories than if you were walking without a dog. Each additional dog you walk burns about 500 more calories. Between them pulling on you, getting tangled up with one another, and trying to drag them away from their sniffing spots, it's an incredible workout.

3. Dogs actually know what you are saying they just choose to ignore you when they are on a leash.

4. There is something magical about a clump of clover that just makes them stay there and sniff.

5. They tend to get territorial about territory that isn't theirs, especially when a strange dog is around.

6. The mysterious imaginary spot on the grass that you have to drag your dog away from is a force to be reckoned with.

7. I have found it easier to risk my life by walking in the middle of the street to keep them from sniffing and marking every two feet.

8. Dogs just love to walk....

Word Clouds

2006-02-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

I went to this website that I totally can't even remember the name of it now. Anyway, they look at your blog and they pull a bunch of words out to create this word cloud. Then they make a t-shirt for you out of your word cloud. Here is my word cloud. It's so cool!

Adoption Happenings

2006-02-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a busy day for us! We had a Waiting Families Seminar with the Families with Children from China organization. Before we left, our fire department was toned out for a major structure fire. I was so bummed about missing it and really thought hard about missing the meeting. We both figured that our daughter was more important though and that we need to learn as much as we can before heading off to China.

The meeting was held at the library. Families who have already been through the process bring their little ones and share their stories. Waiting families can ask questions and get advice. It was wonderful seeing the little, bitty babies/toddlers. Even though they were all about 15 months old, they were so little. I loved hearing the stories and I took lots of notes!

After the meeting we headed over to one of our social worker's house for a Chinese New Year Party on behalf of our agency. There were so many families. Most had their kiddos already and there were some who were waiting just like us! It was so great to just hang out and watch the kids and talk to the other people. John and I really connected with a family who got their sweet little girl about a year ago. I hope we get to see them again!

John had a ton of fun at the arts and craft table. Who knew he could be so artistic! :oD

Next Saturday there is another Chinese New Year event and we are so excited. It's going to be a super big party. Plus that is our 10th wedding anniversary. WOOHOO!

Today was a lazy day. I am not feeling too well. I went over to Heidi's house to do some scrapbooking. I actually got some layouts done! I am so proud of myself. I just love scrapping with Heidi because she is so much fun. She also buys all the latest and greatest and then shares with me. She is such a giver and has such a big heart. I just love Heidi to pieces.

I didn't stay too long though since I wasn't feeling to well. I came back home and crashed on the couch to read and keep an eye on the Super Bowl commercials.

Courage Under Fire

2006-02-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

I was waiting for my editor to clean up my column before I shared this but tonight after reading my Bible passage I decided to share my Firefighter Ministries column, unedited, with you. Every month on our organization's website I post a column. This month I wrote about courage. I have been dealing with a lot of fear, the unknown, and with courage. Last night and today I have been batteling my fear and then I read Psalm 27. I feel a lot better and will really cling to those verses over the coming weeks.

Anyway, here is my column (remember it's unedited):

Courage Under Fire

It's pretty common for firefighters to hear that they have courage because they are willing to enter into dangerous situations, risking their lives for others. For those who work within the emergency medical services, they are seen as brave individuals because they deal with the wreckage and carnage of humans who have been badly injured. Having courage in this line of work is second nature for most of us. But what about courage in your personal life? Do you face life's adversities with courage or do you bend under pressure?

I have been going through a difficult situation these last few weeks and many of my family and friends are giving me Bible verses to read, offering me words of encouragement, telling me to pray, and telling me not to worry because God is in control. When I ready through the verses or think about their encouragement, I still feel fear about my situation and I want to run and hide. I think about ways I can get out of doing the things I need to do in order to resolve my problem. I do some bargaining with God. I huddle in a ball and cry. I try and dissasociate myself from the situation. And at the end of the day when I sit in the silence, I feel like I am a wimp. I don't feel brave. I wonder why it's so easy for me to run into a burning building but it's so hard for me to face this problem.. And then I think, what does it really mean to have courage?

There are many verses in the Bible that say to be strong and courageous. That's seems easier said than done when we are looking into the eyes of our personal 'Goliath.' How are we to have courage to go on with life when a spouse has died? How are we supposed to have the courage to face and deal with the problems in our relationships that we tend to brush under the rug? What about that serious medical diagnosis? How do you find the courage to go through the treatments that might be painful? Or what about the dirty jokes or the questionable activities of co-workers? Do you stand up against them or shy away? All of these situations require courage in order to resolve the conflict that is taking place.

Eleanor Roosevelt summed up what it means to have courage with this quote: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

We must do the thing we think we cannot do. We must seek God, surround ourselves with family and friends, put into place a network of support and then take the step...sometimes leap of faith. We must walk into the darkness of the unknown and pray that with that first step a little light will begin to shine and light
our way. Sometimes we just have to be afraid and do it anyway. Sometimes the situation is not as bad as we imagined it to be and other times it's worse but we hope and pray that the end result will be a better life. This
life isn't meant to be easy or pain free but at least we know that when we walk with God and lean on our loved ones, the journey won't be as lonely. I'm telling myself that...and on most days I believe it. On those other days, it just takes me longer to get there.

Pet Pillow & Self Portrait Tuesday

2006-01-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

I got tired of staring at my computer screen last night so I laid down on the office floor. As soon as I did that my dog Chief came and laid down next to me and put her head on my shoulder. She never does that! Usually she has this conspiracy theory that I am going to put flea medication on her or try to give her bath whenever I get on her level. So it was pretty funny that she just came and laid next to me.

No sooner than Chief laid down, Deuce my cat miandered over and decided to lay on my stomach. What am I a pet pillow or something?

I watched Dr. 90210 last night which is a show about these doctors in Beverly Hills that do plastic surgery. I have seen the show a few times and it just hits a nerve everytime I see it. I can't believe how many people are so unhappy with their looks that they would resort to surgery to fix it. Every once in a while I wish I could fix certain things that I don't like about my body. I think everyone probably has those dreaded spots on our body that we would just magically like to dissapear. But I keep thinking how cosmetic surgery is screwing around with God's creation. Everyone wants to look like a Barbie doll and it's so sad.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe in cosmetic surgery for those who have been disfigured either by an accident or because of genetics. I am just not too thrilled about people who already look fine wanting to play god with their bodies.

Self Portrait Tuesday

Self Portrait Tuesday is a really cool blog about self expression and self exploration. They have a theme each month and you take or find pictures of yourself that revolve around that theme. January's theme is Personal History. I decided to post this picture because it is a picture of me acting in a training film about me and my history as a firefighter. In this picture I am featured with my body double. She is the one on the left. We look a lot a like don't we? HAHA! It was so wierd watching someone play me but it was so cool to watch my story and my personal history being filmed.

About Me Layouts

2006-01-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Heidi and I spent Sunday afternoon putting our About Me albums from QVC together. It was a little kit that came with all of the paper and embellishments. QVC is actually going to do a series of these albums and this is the first one. The next one is called About You and I will probably do that one on John.

At Heidi's we put the nuts and bolts of the album together. I am going to add some more of my own embellishments to it and of course do the journaling. I got the first three pages completely done and wanted to share them with you. I love how they turned out!

Pages 4 & 5 are here along with the rest of the album.

John got the coolest thing in the mail on his birthday. Back in October when we flew to Canada for a conference, there was a medical emergency on board of the airplane. John got up to help the guy and when we landed at the airport the guy was taken off the airplane. Well, 3 months later Southwest sent him a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere SW flies for his help! Isn't that totally awesome!? I almost got up to help too but the aisle is so small and there were already enough people crowded around. I figured John could handle it. Darn heck, if only I had got up to help maybe we could have gotten 2 tickets. Oh well! We feel tremendously blessed! Yeah God!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2006-01-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

My Grandmother Nai Nai with my cousins.

My Dad with my cousins at the family get together.

Happy Birthday John!

2006-01-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's John's birthday today. I won't give up his age. (big sigh of relief babe)

For his birthday we went to the biggest male droolfest of them all...the Houston Auto Show. It's the new car show where they show the latest models, the concept cars, and the cars you can only dream about (and sometimes these cars are even too expensive for our dreams!) We had a great time looking at Dad-mobiles. We are in a need of a new car since the one John drives, my hand-me down, is getting to be on it's last little wheels. The car show was a great place to start dreaming. The funny thing I noticed was, this is one of the few times men will get in the same car with other strange men. Some of these cars are so small and yet, they manage to squish themselves in the front seat and carry on conversations about how the backseat is non-existant or the motor is pretty sweet. This is definitely worth further psychological study!

Now if only the baby will fit in the backseat of that cute, little red bug! Which, by the way, is the least manliest car at that whole show!

A Place At Our Table, A Spot On My Chair

2006-01-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

Oh, what to say about my dear cat Deuce. Deuce, he is a mixture of frustration and joy for me. He was our first four-legged child when we got married 10 years ago (holy cow has it really been that long?). I found him in a pet store sitting in the middle of the litter box swaying side to side. Apparently his mother had disbanned him from the rest of the litter. He had this helpless little look on his face and I could not bear to leave without him. So he came home in a box with punched out holes. He cried the whole way home. Since then he has been our constant shadow and lap companion even when we don't want him to be. I just love him so much. He always has a place at our table.

Now when I sit on the computer to do my work or to just surf around, Deuce likes to hop into my lap and just chill out. Personally it drives me crazy because he makes it hard to type and he just gets in the way. So last night, I was trying to get some work done and he decides he wants to get on my lap. I kept shoving him off so finally he wedged himself between my back and the chair. I don't know how that was comfortable for him because it sure wasn't for me. I found it hysterical though and tried to take some pictures. Let me tell you, that was not a graceful photo session!

By the way, if you want to see some seriously cute pictures of animals, you need to go check out www.cuteoverload.com. It's such a great website!

Scrapbook Page

2006-01-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

2005 Year in Review

I am finally working on a new album. It's going to be a review of all of things we did in 2005. We had so much going and we did so much that I thought a book with just a few layouts of each event would be better than trying to do a seperate book for each one. I will do a seperate book for Katrina though.

I am a pretty slow scrapper mostly because I procrastinate. I promised that I would try to a lot more scrapping this year before the baby comes. I am going to try and keep up with promise or intention should I say? I am also a simple scrapper so maybe that will help me get more done. Heck, I still have one more 9/11 album I have to finish. I have had a hard time with that one though because it's specifically of my friends from Ladder 3 that died.

So, here is my first page. I promise to post more!

A Powerful Song

2006-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

I was going to write this long blog entry tonight but I decided to just share this song with you. Kenny Chesney wrote this very deep and powerful song called Who You'd Be Today. It is about a friend of his who died when he was a teenager. I always think about this song when I go work on a firefighter line of duty death. Most of those firefighters are so young when they are killed in the line of duty.

Anyway, I rediscovered Yahoo Music Videos and I looked up that song. Oh my gosh, it's so moving and really brings out the words of the song. I encourage you to go and watch it. Just go here http://search.music.yahoo.com/search/?p=kenny+chesney&m=video and then click on the song Who You'd Be Today. Little did I know it would feature a firefighter.

Don't take life for granted. It can be taken away in the blink of an eye.

I Like Being Married

2006-01-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through the library a couple of weeks ago when I happened upon this sweet little book called I Like Being Married, Treasured Traditions, Rituals and Stories by Michael Leach and Therese J. Borchard. I picked it up on a whim and added to my stash of books.

A couple of days ago I finally picked it up. It's such a great inspiration and celebration of marriage. There were stories and quotes from regular couple and celebrity couples. Most everyone mentioned had long marriages. Now a day with marriages seeming to last only a few years and seems to be mocked by the 'mainstream', it's great to find something that talks about it as a great thing.

So I was thinking about all of the reasons I like being married to John. Here they are in random order:

1. I like who I am with him better than without him.
2. He sticks up for me.
3. He goes to bat for me.
4. We love to explore new and old places.
5. He knows how to comfort me.
6. He is a good handyman.
7. He supports me and all of my ideas and will even lend a hand.
8. He lets me have my own space.
9. He is a great friend to my friends.
10. He is affectionate.
11. He is proud of me.
12. He takes good care of me.
13. We have weathered some pretty bad storms and our 'boat' has never capsized.
14. He goes the extra mile.
15. He knows how to say I'm sorry, even to my Mom after a crazy card game. :o)
16. Our own rituals and traditions, including nightly tea.
17. He is good about trying new things or meeting new people.
18. He is a good leader.
19. He tries to make the best decisions possible.
20. He's going to make a great father.

I love you!

Pictures That Crack Me Up

2006-01-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

I have had a couple of rough days this last week and I was going through pictures trying to find ones that totally cracked me up. Well I found some good ones that I thought I would share with you.

My sister and I get a little crazy when we get together. I don't know what it is, but wierd things just start happening. Just ask our spouses. They will verify the wierdness. Anyway, I was visiting Liz at her new townhouse and I was totally laughing at how her cat just loved to hang out in this box that they had finished unpacking. So because of the wierdness in the air, I decided to impersonate the cat and I hopped right in. Well Liz totally cracked up, so she decided to join in. How many Chang sisters can you fit in a cardboard box? Well, that wasn't good enough, so we picked up her cat(who was hiding out in a cereal box) and brought him in with us. Then BOOM!! the box broke. The look on the cat's face is just priceless. Plus the memory just makes me laugh for such a long time. I swear, we weren't even drinking!!!

Of course the second picture has to do with my sister too. We like to take pictures of ourselves kissing random things. It's this total inside joke that started back when she was in high school and came and spent the summer with us. So here is one of my kissy picutres with a gross dead looking thing.

Okay so John got a little nutty when we were playing cards one night. He was stressing out because he wasn't winning so he decided to distract us by sticking cards to his forehead. Pretty soon, I had to join in.

So that you can see where Liz and I get where our wierdness comes from...this is my Mom dressing up as an airport firefighter. The helmet just overwhelms her head and the picture just cracks me up! Such a fun picture. Sorry Mom...it could have been the other picture! :oD

And then here is our family photo shoot with a dead, stuffed cow. Now how could you pass up that photo moment? That's me and my super cool mom on top of the stuffed cow and John leading us to pasture.

Do I really need to put a caption to John just being his normal bizzarro self? LOL

To my family: thanks for the memories and all of the laughs!

Little Girls & Hair

2006-01-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had the new member's dinner for the Families with Children from China-Houston group. We met at this Chinese buffet on the other side of Houston. There were about 16 people, including our social worker and her daughters that attended.
Most of the little ones that were there were about 3 & 4 years old. They were too cute and had waaaay too much energy. I wish I could have some of that energy!

After we ate and chatted a bit, we got down to business of makeovers and hairstyling. The girls just loved my long hair. I had my hair up in combs and those had to immediately come out so they could use them as brushes. I was completely surrounded by girls trying to comb my hair into 1,000 differant directions. One of them I swore was reincarnated from the 80's because she just wanted rat my hair. It was pretty fun and I am sure entertaining for them and their parents. Plus it was a great time to show my social worker that I can deal with 'hair-raising' experiences!

The funny part of the whole thing was the little girl sitting directly on my lap pulled down my lower eyelids and looked deep into my eyes for about 30 seconds and said, 'You have blue eyes and your face is red!' I totally cracked up.

Two of the girls attend Chinese language classes on Saturdays. So we also had fun testing our abilities to count to ten in Mandarin. Yeah for those few lessons I got from my grandfather.

John of course had a great time talking with the men and snapping photos of my extreme hair makeover. Make sure you check out the video link to the right. John captured part of it on the camera video. Maybe I should send it in for a real makeover?

Thorns

2006-01-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

I am got some bad news about something today (not about our adoption but it's something I don't want to share in an open format like a blog)and it nearly caused my heart to break. So I called or emailed my closest friends and family to have them pray for me. After a few rounds of tears and few laps around the mall to clear my head and to eat a cinnabon (there is nothing quite like sugar therapy), we went back to the house to clear out the front yard.

I needed some stress relief so I thought we would trim the trees and tackle this thorny bush that I can't stand. As I was hacking away at the thorny bush I couldn't help but think about this situation in my life and how it feels like a thorn in my side. And then that thought brought me to the Bible where Paul talks about the thorn in his side and that he is constantly praying that God would get rid of those thorns. And then I thought about the crown of thorns that Jesus had to endure. Everyone of us humans, even Jesus when he was here on earth, have to endure the thorns of life. I kept thinking about how I wish I could just ignore these thorns and make them go away, but I know they won't. So like Paul, I have to go before my Lord and pray that he will help me deal with this thorn. While a thorn is a terribly painful thing, it is what is bringing me closer to the Lord.

Anyway, please keep me in your prayers.

John Is Going to be a Captain!

2006-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

I am such a bad wife! :oP I totally forgot to post about John's test. He took it last week and scored very high! It looks like he will be part of the first batch of firefighters that will become Captain. He studied so hard and for so many months. I am so proud of him! Of course I am a little worried because that means he has to come out from behind the walls of the airport and onto the streets. It's all good though! The Lord will lead us to where He wants John to be.

The Cold, Hard Truth About Firefighters

2006-01-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight our volunteer fire department responded to a pretty large house fire. My first inclination is to say that we made a really awesome fire but then I have to stop myself. What's really great for us as firefighters is pretty darn devestating to the person we are responding to help. I mean, tonight a family lost their house and all of their possessions. What a terrible tragedy for them.

Another thing that seems so natural for us but in reality is probably really wrong, is that we like to take pictures of these scenes. We like to capture the work that we do. So, when the fire was out and we were all standing around the front yard still fully bunkered out and someone breaks out with a camera, our first response is to pose together as group. As I was standing there posing with my fellow firefighters, I couldn't help but wonder, should I smile? Should I act serious? What do I do? Someone's house is totally desimated behind us and here we are smiling like we just won the lottery. It was a real paradoxical moment for me.

I remember thinking when I was down in New Orleans how great it felt to be down there in the nitty gritty of it all. I remember taking tons of pictures with my fellow chaplains and smiling in most of the pictures. I also remember asking myself those same questions. Here we were walking around death and destruction and we were happy to be there and we took tons of photos like we were tourists. It's crazy I know.

Tonight as we were coming back from the fire, I kept thinking about this. To the outside world, we must look like cold and uncaring individuals, but these feelings and these photos go much deeper than the public could ever know. Yeah, we do love a good fire. There is nothing like seeing the beast of fire rip through and then whip and rage 10 feet above a rooftop. It gets the adrenaline flowing. But all in all, it really comes down to seeing how much we can save. How can we knock the beast out of power. How can we salvage as much of those people's lives as we can? We really do care. That beast of fire is the bad guy and we are so incredibly honored to come riding in on our red and white trucks to save civilians from it. And the pictures we take? We just want to remember that we all made it out alive. No one was hurt and that we did our best. We want to celebrate the frienships and the bond that we have with each other.

When it comes down to it, we care deeply about the people we serve. We really love the work we do even though it's incredibly painful for those we are trying to help. Our love for the work is about serving our fellow man. And if it came down to it, we would lay our lives down for another. So really, we aren't cold. We may seem a little calloused at times, but that is our coping mechanism for seeing too much bad stuff. But deep down underneath all of the bunker gear and under the tough image, there lies a heart of gold.

Acts of God

2006-01-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday I went to go help a friend sort through some products that were destroyed during Katrina. My friend owns an company out of Maryland(Emergency Training Associates) that sells books and merchandise to the fire & EMS community. During trade shows and conventions he sets up a booth to sell those same items.

In late September he was down in New Orleans for an EMS convention. The show was wrapping up when Katrina made a beeline for the city. He was told that his merchandise, that was being shipped via a freight company, was out of LA and on it's way back to Maryland. Well, come to find out that wasn't true. In fact his merchandise was in the back of an 18 wheeler that was stranded in New Orleans.

Once the storm was over he heard conflicting reports that his merchandise had been damaged from the flood water. At one point he heard there wasn't much damage and then he heard that there was quite a bit of damage. The items were shipped to the shipping company's warehouse in Houston. My friend decided to come down and check out the items and figure out what was salvageable and what needed to be tossed. So this past Thursday we spent some time going through everything. A majority of his items were books and t-shirts. And his loss was about 85-90%. It was so sad and I felt so bad for him. His company is pretty much family owned and operated so he has taken a huge hit.

Here is the kicker. When I asked him about insurance coverage, he said that the insurance company basically told him that Katrina was an 'Act of God' and that they didn't cover acts of God. How completely asinine is that? What really gets me is the fact that this country seems to be turning more and more away from God. It seems like so many people claim there is no God or that God needs to stay out of business, but they are willing to blame Him for something like this? Sure when it's a good thing, there is no God! But hey if life sucks it's God's fault. Makes me so darn angry! I hope my friend is able to make up for the losses he is facing over this next year.

On a baby note, John and I have started shopping for nursery items. Well, we are really price comparing right now. We want to make sure that we are getting the best deal we can on those expensive furniture items. I made a price comparison worksheet and you can find that in the resource section of our webite.

Ferocious Animals

2006-01-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

You DO NOT want to mess with these killer animals! They are ferocious and wild and will tear you up if they get a chance. They are only allowed to stay in one animal sanctuary in the world, The Norris Ranch, because they are just so out of control.

Our brave photographer was able to capture these photos without incident. I am just amazed she came back unscathed!

First is this mysterious black animal. She is so elusive that they call her Shadow.

Next is this black animal which is a distant relative of Shadow. This animal seems to have dominance over all of the other animals at the sanctuary and so they call this one Chief.

Don't let this pose fool you! It may be white and fluffy and inviting to touch, but if you get too close...wham!! That is why they call her Ashes, because if she gets a hold of you, you will wish that you were made out of ashes.

I saved the scariest animal for last. This yellow and white animal has to sleep like this because his belly is too full from his last hunt. He looks big and fat and lazy but that's his secret cover. He is quicker than lighting. That is why his name is Deuce, because before you can even count to two, he is gone (or you are)!

What to Expect When You're Not Expecting

2006-01-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

I got the new Adoptive Families magazine yesterday and I was reading through the Letters to the Editor. One of the letters talked about an article that was posted on the magazines website: www.adoptivefamilies.com. The article was called What to Expect When You're Not Expecting, a twist off of the famous book What to Expect When You're Expecting.

I found the article this morning and just loved it. I thought that I would share the article with you in case any of you either don't get the magazine or might have missed it. It's a great article and explains a lot of feelings that many adoptive parents feel.

I am so excited because there are several events coming up that involves our agency or the group we belong to called Families with Children From China. In two weeks we are going to a new members dinner. On the 29th we are going to a Chinese New Year dinner and then on Feb 4, we are going to another CNY party with our agency. I can't wait!

The Surprise Inside My Oven

2006-01-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today I bought this awesome healthy cook book from Barnes & Noble. I wanted to try some new recipies that wouldn't overwhelm me since I don't like to cook. I picked out this flank steak sandwich with Dijon mustard. Yum! I have to broil it, so I turned the oven on to let it warm up and I started smelling this burning odor. I figured it was some reminant left over in my stove. When I went to put the meat in, much to my surprise, I had a whole cookie pan full of cheese sticks from New Year's Eve that I totally forgot about! How hysterical is that? Now you have to remember that I had six people living in this house for three days after the party and I can't believe none of us used the stove until now. I guess that shows you how much I 'love' to cook!

They aren't even moldy! EWE!!!!!!!

Silence Has Fallen At The Norris House

2006-01-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Last night my parents left for home and this morning my aunt and uncle left. I am pretty bummed because I had such a great time with them. A lot of the time they were here we also had friends over, so there was always movement and conversation going on in the house. From early morning until late at night there was always something going on. Now that everyone has left the house is silent. Mostly, I miss the noise. In other ways I am glad it is quiet because then I don't feel like I missing out on anything if I am in my office working on the blog or on the ministry.

The last couple of days we stayed pretty busy going for Dim Sum with Uncle Willy and his family, hosting a big dinner with crab and steak, and playing lots of cards and Dominoes. Last night after I dropped my parents off at the airport, I went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle. It was kind of like the last hoorah.

I guess now that they are gone I am going to have to get back to work and start getting serious about some things. I have been slacking in some areas of my life and in my work and I need to get myself back on track. I feel like I have been off since Hurricane Katrina. So, I need to get focused. John and I have a lot to do before the baby gets here. We really need to get ourselves emotionally, spiritually, and physically fit so that we can have the stamina to keep up with a new little person.

One of the ways that I am working on my spiritual stamina is by doing a daily devotional. My sister, my mother, and I are committing to reading this book throughout the year. It's called the Devotions for Women on the Go. They are short and simple devotions but they are very good. I highly recommend this book.

I will share some of my other goals and intentions in the coming days.

Here are some pictures of the last few days with my family:

New Year's Day Breakfast. My Uncle Rusty cooks the best breakfast!

My Mom and I. We took this picture before we left for Dim Sum.

My Dad and Uncle Rusy eating Dim Sum and being silly.

John and I.

My Uncle Willy, Me, and My Dad.

Mom sitting on the floor of our office.

Having fun just hanging out!

Our last card game before everone left.

New Year's Eve- The Night My Chinese Dad Turned Japanese

2006-01-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know you are dying to know the details behind the title of this post but my friend, you will have to wait until the end of the story! First things first!

New Years Eve was such a blast! The whole day was fun. We did some shopping to get the items we needed for our party. So we went to Sams and they had so many samples out. We grazed and grazed on the food. Yum!

My parents are wanting to add strength training to their exercise routine. They do a lot of walking and hiking but they don't do any strength training. I went through a personal training certification class and so I know all kinds of cool exercises you can do with resistance bands and the big rubber ball. So after perusing through the local sports store, we came home and played with the new toys. We had a lot of fun with the rubber balls. It's pretty entertaining to watch people who have never been on one try to balance, especially when it's your own parents. They did promise that when they get back to California that they would do all of the exercises that I taught them. New Year's resolution #1?? Maybe......

Our party was at 6:30 and it started out with just my parents and my aunt and uncle who came in from Tenn and two close friends from church. But then I kept inviting people to come over. I didn't think that all of them would be able to make it because most of our friends have kiddos or are usually invited to other parties. Well, I was so surprised that they were all able to make it! I absolutely love having a house full of the people I love. I really did have my blood family and my friend family. I felt extremely blessed.

We mostly did hamburgers and finger foods. Mom made some salmon, so I grubbed on that. I did cave in to the cheesesticks even though I promised myself I wouldn't eat one. They were so good. Now my dad and uncle like to freak people out with different types of food. They like to watch their poor unsuspecting victims react to the craziness of their food choices. I always went along with them and ended up liking a lot of the crazy food. Well my uncle had brought some crickets over from his Navy tour in Japan. John and I have already been through the torture saga (and didn't like them) and so we were ready to join in on the fun of watching people freak out over the crickets. So my uncle and John put one of the crickets on a cracker and gave it to our friend Scott (who is a picky eater). He boldly ate that thing and didn't give us the satisfaction of a good scream or grossed out facial expression or anything! I was disappointed but we still got a good laugh.

We spent the night playing card games and doing a lot of talking. Most of our friends ended up going home before midnight but we still had a good group to hang out with when 2006 came rolling in. I am so happy that we had such a good party.

Now about the Chinese dad turning Japanese. My parents don't really drink. But of course we had a ton of champagne and some other liquors. My aunt made a champagne mix drink for my dad, who bravely decided to drink it. Well with his first sip he made this hysterically, crazy face because the drink was so strong. My aunt said he looked like he was Japanese. It was so funny!!!! So we have dubbed Jan 31, 2005 the night my Chinese dad turned Japanese. Here is the great picture to prove it.

After all of our guests left, John went into work early so he wouldn't have to go sleep and get up 3 hours later. My parents and I sat up and watched funny videos and looked at funny pictures on this website called Upbeat and Downtown. We laughed so hard for about an hour! You totally need to check out his Random Shtuff link.

Well I will update you with more of our family vacation and some of my goals for 2006 in a later post. I am going to bed early tonight because I am so tired.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T00:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all. I know for many 2005 was a very difficult year. I pray that for those individuals that 2006 will be blessed for them. We are looking forward to this year and all of the possibilities that it holds. We are hoping and praying that by this time next year we will have our daughter with us!

Here's to 2006! May the Lord bless you tremendously!

Maas Nursery

2005-12-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

There is this super cool nursery in Seabrook, TX called Maas Nursery. I am not sure how big it is but it has to be at least a couple of acres. It has so many plants and trees for sale but also it has a bunch of junk, statues, rocks, shells, water fountains, and several animal habitats. You could spend several hours there and still not see it all. So we spent some time there and did a little bit of walking.

Mostly we have been window shopping. The mall is still really crowded but we braved it to go check out the sales.

No word on any adoption news. We hope to hear a log in date (LID) pretty soon. I am also hoping to put together a Lifebook group for my area.

Here are some pictures from the nursery: