Thankful Thursday...

Today I am thankful for my job :)

Especially with so many people without jobs and struggling to pay bills and care for their families, I am thankful we both have jobs. Even though there are times when my job makes me want to run screaming from the building, those times are few a far between. The last year has been challenging with my boss going out on maternity leave and then deciding to quit to stay home with her new baby (lucky her!). Luckily before she went out on leave we hired another person to work in our office, if I had to get through this last year alone.. I would have never of made it. My new co-worker, Diana, is wonderful. She is so smart and funny and fun to work with. We have really leaned on eachother and that got us through some tough spots. I actually work with a lot of wonderful people. It makes going to work fun! That dosesn't mean I don't secretely dream that I'd win the lottery and not have to work... Cuz I would quit if I didn't have to. Then I could stay home and take of our daugther full time. Hmmm... maybe that is why our adoption has gone through yet... maybe I'm going to win the lottery and become rich and get to stay home with her! Wow, I better start buying lottery tickets!!!

As for the adoption, things moved forward a little more this month. More than last month, but not as much as I'd like it too!!! China has match babies to parents who had their paperwork logged into China through March 6, 2006. So we are so close to our log in date of April 3, 2006. Only 27 days of log in dates between me and my baby.... Not sure how long it is going to take to get through those 27 days... But I'm still hoping for early fall 2009.

Happy Valentines Day

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. He knows just how to make me feel loved. I woke up Saturday morning to breakfast in bed. Yummy Blueberry Belgian Waffles and OJ. And then when I went downstairs he had this beautiful flower arrangement on the table. With cards from him and all my "kids". Plus a cute little musical bear. He knows how much I love Gerber Daisy's (we had them in our wedding) and I loved the unique one in front that was both yellow & red. I hadn't ever seen one like that before. We had a wonderful day! We went to a late lunch/early dinner at Red Robin (trying to avoid the crowd... didn't really work). After dinner we went home to watch the movies I had rented (Fireproof & Madagascar II). Fireproof was pretty good... A little stressful in the beginning because of how mean they were to each other. But had a good message & ending. And we loved the original Madagascar and I was excited to see the sequel. It was really good! Don thought it was even better than the original! We liked it so much we watched it again on Sunday. I guess we are just big kids at heart. I can't wait to watch these types of movies with our daughter!

Thankful Thursdays

I got this idea (Thankful Thursdays) from a fellow blogger. I have also been doing some reading about the secret behind joyful people. It seems joyful people concentrate on the things they are thankful for in their lives rather than focusing on the problems and disappointments. What great advice. I bought the plaque above at a christmas bazaar last year. My mom an I went to see my sister who lives about 1 hour away. It was such a fun day... we went to several bazaars and had lunch and just had some fun girl time! When I saw this plaque I though it was a perfect reminder to remember there is always something to be thankful for. Even when things in your life aren't going the way you want them to.

The funny thing is... I was sitting on my couch this last Sunday and I looked at the plaque and read it. And I was surprised to see the word "Always" written on it twice. Who added the second "always"??????? I could swear when I bought this plaque it didn't have the word "always" twice in a row!!!!!!!! When my hubby got home I asked him and he said the same thing. It was a little freakie. It's funny what your mind thinks. Did someone change it??? That is impossible! Is it a sign that I'm not being thankful (because lately I've been focusing on what I don't have rather than being thankful for what I do). Is God trying to make a point with me??? Well, we'll never know! I guess I'll just remember to be thankful!

Things that make me smile... Part II

Picturing our daughter in her nursery. We had this cool mural painted for her. Her name will be painted just above the crib when we finally decide on one.

Seeing my two little kitty-koo's just barely waking up and peaking out of their box when I come home after work.

My mom-in-law and her hyperactive puppy, brandy.

Things that make me smile :)

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My cute little princess curled up on her special camping chair. She is much to prim and proper to lie on the ground like a dog :) (Her Grandpa made her this)





















Watching my cute lovebug Jake playing with his Frankie Pheasant that he got for christmas.













The yummy mini apple Pie's my wonderful husband made for me on Saturday!!!!

It's a gloomy day inside & out

Well.... news on adoptions matches was bad. Especially since so many of us had our hopes up that things were suppose to improve & we expected a higher than normal amount of matches. But, only 2 days of waiting parents got their matches this month. Congratulations to those families who have been waiting so long. That is an all time low! Funny how we expected high numbers and we got lower than low numbers. Woe is me. I'm feeling very tired of all this anticipation and yearning for our baby. We decided to adopt in August 2005. And now over 3 years later still we don't have our baby. I have this large empty space in my heart that just hurts right now. My hopes have been dashed so many times over the last 3 years, I just feel like giving up. The January winter weather isn't helping either. It has been dark & cloudy for 2 weeks. I think the sun is still up there, just haven't seen it for 2 weeks.
God - I know you have a plan... I'm not liking it it, but you have infinite wisdom and know what is best. So I pray that you help me get through this wait, show me what you are trying to accomplish in my life through this trial. Help me put my trust in you and not the ways of this world. Thank you for all the blessings in my life (my husband, my fur babies [Jake, Faith, Rocky, Sawyer], my sister, my home, my job, my family & friends) In Jesus precious name... Amen.

Trying not to get Excited!

There is rumor buzz buzzing around on the China adoption front that things are going to speed up. I've heard this so many times before that I have told myself not to get excited. Because I just get let down when it doesn't happen. But everyone is getting excited and hoping that their is going to be a large referral batch this month. It is hard to not get my hopes up when everyone else is celebrating with joyfulness & excitement. So, yes I'm caught up in it. I can hardly wait now to see what happens. China will be closed down for chinese New Year the last week of January. So we are all speculating that baby matches will happen next week!! Oh I pray for all us mommies & daddies out there that want our little babies in our arms so badly. I pray we do see some improvement in the amount of babies that are matched with parents starting this month. Their are so many orphans in china that need to be with their forever family and not living in orphanages without the love of a family. I'll keep you posted!!!