Before. . .

My office closet at present. . . Yes one side looks better than the other, but it's not good enough, yet.

Belated Merry Christmas to me

You could say that I have a 'stuff' problem in my office. It's driven me crazy since we've moved in, but there were other priorities to attend to, so I just dealt with it the best I could.
I've reached my limit.

I think it is time to do something when you start buying duplicate items. I have so much stuff shoved into the corners that I forget what I have. . . and therefore nothing gets used and I get excess. I have art paraphernalia in four other closets as well. I guess plan B would be to stop accumulating this stuff. Yeah right.

My very merry Christmas for myself is a closet remodel. There is way too much empty useless space in there. One of the closet people questioned whether or not I would need to turn it back for future children use. . . No. I could give up the guest room in an instant, sorry everyone, but they did build a hotel just up the road.

I cannot survive without an office space, and if I could I would use the Master Bedroom for my studio and sleep in this little cramped space, but Dave won't buy that one. Oh well.

We've already assembled a list of things that will be required in our next home. A big studio is on my list! Until then it is time for a little demo and re-build in my closet. Once we decide on a design and it gets accomplished I'll post some photos. Yea, I'm so excited!

a bit of Christmas

It was a very Merry Christmas for us as I hope it was for all of you. Simple and quiet, just what I needed.

The highlights. . . Nilla was pleased to have a soft place to lay down (thanks to Mom, but I have no idea what to do with it now) and new toys to chew to pieces.


All Mocha cared about was food, of course. She attacked the new toys, but she only really had eyes for the treats Dave gave her.


I enjoyed taking snapshots with my new camera. Yea! It is a cute little red Sony Cybershot. Don't judge it too harshly by these photos. I was just playing around with it. It really is a good camera that I'm sure will provide better evidence later on. Dave's favorite feature was the smile finder. Once I lock it onto a face the camera will take a picture every time that person smiles. Needless to say I have a thousand of Dave showing me his pearly whites. Pretty fun though. Meanwhile, you will find no pictures of me. I blinked every time it was pointed at me Christmas morning. Oh well, who really needs pictures without their makeup done anyway.


Dave loved having the day to play his new games including, Guitar Hero III. He's much better at it than I, and my fingers might not recover.

We spent the day on the phone with family, eating goodies, and of course playing Guitar Hero. . . and then had a delicious dinner with Anne, Travis, and family. It was fun to see their munchkins so excited about Christmas! And P.S. Anne, I already finished one of the books. . . so interesting!

A big thanks to everyone who generously shared Christmas goodies with us. We're stuffed. And a special thanks to J.J. for providing Dave with the clam chowder and bread that he devoured! We enjoyed all your cards and photos as well!

Have a Happy New Year!

Online Profile

Our online profile is available now! Yay! You can find it at providentliving.org and search the adoption profile listings for DaveandMindy. . . but it would probably just be easier if you clicked on the link here in our 'How to Contact Us' section to your right and down a bit. . . and it will take you there directly.

And if you look at it and have any suggestions or possible improvements. . . please let me know. I want it to really show us. Tell me if it does or not.

We'll be adding our profile to parentprofiles.com as well, but not just yet, I'm exhausted.

Please help us get the word out about our adoption plans. If interested, refer people to our blog or our profile listing, or both. That may seem uncomfortable for some of you so. . .

Mainly, we would appreciate it if you just mentioned it to anyone and everyone that you know some (insert your own fabulously positive adjective here) people who are looking to adopt.

For example, our pest control sprayer knows we want to adopt because his secretary told him. Dave is that thorough! Crazy, I know, but you never know what might come of it. . .

Thanks, we appreciate it!

Apparently I need to explain something. . .

People seem to think one of my previous posts meant that the agency lost all of our paperwork. That is simply not true. They did lose one piece, but that wasn't what I was referring to when I mentioned the huge crack we were lost in.

They just FORGOT about us. They forgot to finish our paperwork, even after we reminded them of our existence for the last time a month ago. They had our paperwork in a file in a dusty corner. Okay I don't actually know where they keep them, but it must have had some cobwebs on it for the amount of time we waited.

We were patient and didn't make a fuss. Maybe that was the problem. I hate being one of those problem people that get dealt with quickly because they are obnoxious, so I gave them space and trusted they were doing what they said they would. Yeah well, so much for patience. . . it's overrated. After talking to the Supervisor things started to happen and happen fast. . .

WE HAVE BEEN APPROVED!

Yep, that's right our paperwork has gone through the ringer and come out the other side. Our paper file is being disseminated throughout the state as we speak, and they are approving our web page as well. That big pile of papers in my previous post is what I had to turn in for the rest of the agencies in the state of Utah.

We are officially available to adopt. They sent out our approval letter on Thursday, so we should be getting it in the mail shortly. I wasn't going to tell anyone until I had physical proof. But, I needed to clarify and so here it is. . . we're done with the paperwork phase. Well this portion, there will be more upon placement. . . but now we actually get to wait for that miracle.

It's not a baby (yet), but it's a pretty good Christmas present nonetheless!

Where I waste my time

I found a new site on the internet to waste my time. Have a look. You'll find it when you click here.

Love that Jackson Pollock.

plant one more tree, Kari

The stack of paperwork that I handed into the adoption agency today. . . and amazingly enough, no paper cuts.

That's 80 pages of material, plus 20 photos. Sick, right?

Through a crack

Yep, that's the official word. They forgot about us and our paperwork. Nice. My bitterness overfloweth at the moment.

Finally a phone call returned and they apologized for letting us fall through a crack. . . a freaking huge crack.

We were told that approval should happen no later than the 20th of this month, maybe even this week. We'll see.

That should make us happy. . . right,

No joy today.

Photo call. . .

I was thinking that our blog needed more photos of our families. . . but I'd like to get some feedback on those photos. So if anyone in our family would like their photo put on our blog (which we would LOVE to do) then please send me one via email, and if you'd like, leave a message here letting me know you want to do so.

As you can see the 'family' section in the sidebar is all about my family. I don't have many (if any) photos of Dave's family so if you'd like to claim your existence here, we'd love to post that. As for my family, you can have your own photo as well, just let me know which one, or send it to me.

I guess this will show who in our family actually looks at the blog. I hope to hear from you!

Rainy days and Mondays

This wasn't the photo I wanted to post today. The one I wanted to post was of an empty working table in my office. It would have been nice to see an empty table for a change, but no this is what you get instead. What you are seeing is the stack of Christmas cards that I have finished. Why you are seeing them on the table instead of in the mail is because of this. . .






I'm not going out to the mailbox right now. We'll try this again tomorrow.

Catalogs, catalogs, everywhere and not a place to sit!

I've got an entire rainforest worth of paper in the form of catalogs. . . In one week I've accumulated a healthy stack dedicated to this wonderful time of year. I could already double this photo, I think. I really can't believe the number, and it actually makes me feel a little bad to have so many. I don't know where they are all coming from. It's an onslaught.

For an internet shopper like me, catalogs are a staple. I have to admit that I love looking through them, but around Christmas time there are too many and they overwhelm. I'm already exhausted by Christmas. What's the date again? Crap, only the third.

I guess that means I need to go out and plant a tree or two. It'll be a long month.

Not so Merry Christmas Card Photos

I really don't like taking Christmas card pictures. Hate is a strong word, but I really really really dislike them. We did it yesterday, and usually I have to wait a good week before I can even look at the results. I detest the event so much that it inevitably colors the photos.

So I caved and looked at the photos when I uploaded them, and I was right, I should have waited a week. I did find a few gems that I thought I would share here. Too funny not to. I'm thinking I'll put the worst ones into my cards, that would be fun, but then again I don't want those displayed as the best we could do. Maybe I'll make a collage of all the bad photos and send them out. That could be a little like giving out my own blackmail material.

Okay, there are some retrievable photos in the batch, but until you see them in your Christmas cards, which I haven't made yet either. . . here is a little glimpse of the outtakes of our fun filled day.This is what happens when you let Dave pose the photo. I was laughing so hard at him during this one.Gotta love the last ditch effort at a photo. . . the hold at arm's length shot. I think you can tell from my face that we're done now.

So are either of these the winners. . . wait in suspense . . . if I ever get the cards done you'll have the answer.

Who's Frank?

The title is only funny to James and Alesha. Don't you just hate inside jokes? Well anyway, we hope everyone's Thanksgiving was enjoyable.

We braved the great white north this year, well maybe not as far up as Canada, but a very hazardous land of snow nonetheless.

It was freezing in Idaho! We've totally become wimps. You'd think we'd have some adaptability since we lived there for years, but no, we froze. I insisted on having a fire going everyday we were there. There wasn't any snow however, which was a requirement for our visit. Clear roads, a must. It was sunny and freezing. I had to wear shoes. I can't even remember the last time I wore actual shoes, and socks no less. Dave was happy that I was able to get some use out of my shoe collection, but I've got to say it just felt wrong without my flip-flops.

We were able to spend time with both of our families, though I don't have photos of Dave's to prove that. I totally failed as photographer this year. Maybe that means I will be fired and Dave will take over, yeah right.

The fam is doing well, and it was great to hang out together again. I think the majority of time was spent on playing games. That is our true Thanksgiving tradition. Lots and lots of games. We love to laugh. It helps when we eat all that pie to have a built in way to burn some calories off. Laughing until it hurts is the reason we go up to see my family. I hate road trips, but that makes it totally worth it.

Check out the meager slideshow below for some photos of the fam. . .

Thanksgiving slideshow

I didn't take any photos of us eating or anything, but here are the shots that I did get. . . This is our gift passing tradition with my family.

~mindy

Happy National Adoption Month!

Within National Adoption Month, there is a specific, momentous day, National Adoption Day, which will be held this Saturday. On this day, special efforts are made by the courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, and child welfare agencies in all 50 states to finalize adoptions for thousands of children.

Exciting news right? Well we're not there yet, but exciting for others. Friends of ours just received a baby last week and so we're thrilled for them.

The news on our part. . . We met with Ben, the new caseworker, Monday and it went well. He seemed great, so we're excited. He promised to work on our file so that we can get through the bureaucratic red tape as soon as possible. That's his job right now, move the ones in limbo to the other side of the approved fence.

As it stands right now. . . they have our file with our mountain of paperwork that they have to type up into a huge 10 or so page document. Then they have to take that to committee and make sure everything is in order and accounted for. Then our birth parent letter gets dissected and refined. Once that gets approved along with our photo collage we'll make copies to disseminate to the agencies in the rest of the state. Our web listing will also get the once over and then we'll be online and available. The web listing will be available immediately after we're approved even though the paper file hasn't made it out to all the agencies yet (snail mail, you know).

Why it takes so long. . . Our home study is an exhaustive document listing everything about our house and neighborhood. We had to answer a thousand questions that you wouldn't even think mattered so much, but it all has to be included. For instance, the document lists how high our ceilings are, that we have a bay window, and what things are made of, what is on the floors and walls, etc. . . . and then we had to give distances to things in our neighborhood, like parks, churches, every school, libraries, and public facilities. We also had to approximate how many of the people in our neighborhood had children and the age ranges, also the number of renters, vacation homes, and permanent residences. Everything was examined and documented. It was a long day, and I'm even tired just typing that little taste of it.

Ben explained that it has to be as thorough as possible to satisfy the lawyers. For the first six months after the adoption the agency is legally responsible for the child. That doesn't mean the child isn't ours, but to fulfill the legal stuff that is how it all works.

This was an exhausting post to type. We've already done all of that work, but just thinking back on it and then the waiting for the rest of it to get done is exhausting. Maybe it's that we can't do anything to help the process along that is draining. . .well for me anyway. What we are supposed to be doing now is still talking to people about adoption and letting them know that we are seeking to do so. That's where all of you fit in too. Please let others know that you know someone who wants to adopt. We appreciate it immensely!

~mindy

Attitude of Gratitude

10 things I am grateful for, that money can buy:

1. my comfy house
2. my camera collection
3. the dogs, though sometimes selling them back sounds enticing
4. books. . . I would totally live in a bookstore if we had one here
5. our cell phones
6. my beautiful Mac
7. markers, crayons, pens, charcoal, paint, pastels, watercolors, ink
8. my car, I love that I don't have to drive Dave's
9. jeans and t-shirts, my staple, without them I wouldn't exist
10. take-out food. . . yea, not cooking is great!

10 things I am grateful for, that money cannot buy:

1. Dave! Better now? (I had to move him up on the list, he didn't like being #7)
2. color
3. sunshine, lots of sunshine
4. the Gospel
5. living in a free country
6. talents I've been blessed with
7. Family and Friends
8. Adoption. . . money is needed, but it's love that makes it happen
9. laughter
10. peace and quiet


10 things I am grateful I don't have:

1. a real reason to complain
2. to live with fear
3. to ever really be apart from my family
4. to go through labor and delivery, ;)
5. to make excuses
6. or need glasses!
7. poor health
8. halitosis, that would be gross and not fun for any of you either
9. to live in the past
10. an archenemy. . . that I know of?!

Now it's your turn! Happy Thanksgiving!

~mindy

A bit of 'CHEESE' for our anniversary!

Okay, some of these pictures aren't the best, but that's all I could find for those years. We didn't do a great job taking photos our first and second years of marriage, which you'll see. . . first though, are a couple of engagement photos:And a wedding pic. . . I am not a fan of my wedding photos, so this is all you're getting. Love the snow however!Year one. . . not a great shot, couldn't find the original so all I've got is this sepia toned one. Before the age of digital photos. We are that old.Year two. . . another beautiful shot. This was our actual anniversary, Dave had to leave and go study for some exam, but we got a picture anyway. And my hair is really dark brown, not a great look for me.Year three. . . we took these to oust the engagement photos we had in all our frames. There were a lot of shots this year to choose from, but alas you only get to see one of them.Year four. . . add one puppy and a new city to live in and you get the photos for this year.Year five. . . add another puppy (and we're done), and another new city. I'm sure this backdrop will be a recurrent theme. We're not planning on moving again soon.Year six. . . up close and personal.Year seven. . . I don't know if this is the photo we're going to use or not, but for now it works.

The Seven Year. . .

Itch, I think the saying goes. . . Okay, no one is itchy here, but believe it or not we've been married seven years this month. I don't actually believe it has been that long, until I look at our photos and see the shear number of them celebrating the same holidays over and over again.

That, and it reminds me to take some new and different photos. I've decided to take photos of all the preparations for Christmas only, instead of the opening of presents scene for my scrapbook this year. I really need something different to scrap to get me interested again. Speaking of which, the new Clearly Heavy Overlays from Hambly Screen Prints are so fun. I'm going to start making transparent albums. So excited for those to come in the mail tomorrow!

This post has really taken a turn. . . I actually got on to talk about my anniversary.

Dave and I never do much for our anniversary, for one really big reason. . . and it is what I've tried to drill into any single person's head I can: Never get married around a holiday! With all the preparations for Thanksgiving and Christmas I just don't want to figure anything else out. I think besides our honeymoon we've celebrated our anniversary only once. So that's what, 14%. Not bad.

I'm not actually complaining. It is a relief to not plan anything else, but sometimes I wonder if we're missing out on something. We've decided that we should move our anniversary to a very boring month. We're thinking August. But since we've started this tradition of non-celebration I don't know if even a change of month can break the apathy at this point. We do have an anniversary tradition and that is to take our family photo. It works out well with Christmas cards around the corner. I don't think an anniversary tradition should be so pragmatic though, it makes it less romantic doesn't it?

So what are our celebration plans for this year? People always ask us what our plans are, and I am happy to reply that we have none, even though we get those funny looks that we know so well. Together truly is our favorite place to be, and I don't need anymore fanfare than that. So, maybe I don't need August either.

I guess it comes down to the fact that we don't need to celebrate this holiday to know that we love each other. And it works out well for Dave, because I don't expect a gift. Lucky guy.

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day either. Man, he has it easy.

Seven years. I'm so grateful for all of them. This will surely look silly once we've hit 14 or 21, and I thought seven was a long time.

I'll see if I can find some photos to post. That should be fun.

Princess Bride

So, Princess Bride is arguably my favorite movie, and possibly Dave's as well. Wait I just remembered Pride and Prejudice and Stardust. . . hmm. Anyway, Princess Bride is beloved in our home nonetheless and so Dave purchased the book. The screenplay steps right out of the book, and when you read those lines they ring in your ears as the actor's voices, however, there is a big difference from book to movie.

I think William Goldman may in fact be unhinged somewhat. He tells the most fantastic lies. His first, that the book is actually an abridgment. . . false. Florin is real. . . false. He has a loveless marriage with an extremely obese son (why he needed to lie about this one I don't know). . . false. The reading of Princess Bride saved his life from deathly pneumonia, twice. . . false. He's being sued by the Morgenstern estate several times over. . . false. There is such a person as S. Morgenstern. . . false. . . well somewhere their might be, but not as Goldman claims.

Okay, so those don't actually sound convincing here, but in the 30th anniversary edition book which has no fewer than three introductions he goes into all this history so convincingly that I had to go look things up on the internet to confirm or deny it all. I must be gullible, or as I like to think of it. . . I just loved the movie so much that I trusted it's author implicitly. Either way, the book intrigued me.

My one qualm, other than the extensive lies which were actually quite fun so maybe take those off the list of qualms, was that he can't write women. Few can, I think, and his were shallow and stupid. Maybe he did have a loveless marriage after all. Either way, the Princess Bride in the book is even more simple than the movie portrays, sadly enough. The book is a satire of many things, and I guess women is one of them. Despite the irritation of setting women in such a light, I enjoyed the book's sarcastic tone and look forward to it's sequel if it every gets finished. I love a good book.

And on a sad note, after talking to my sister last night she told me what she heard about the book Wicked. The one they turned into the broadway hit. Well, I won't be reading it. . . disappointing. The book is not like the play, in fact after a little research about it, it is very vulgar and crude. Too bad, it had an interesting premise. I don't want to read that kind of crap, so now I am once again in search for a good book. I shouldn't be reading anyway, I've got too many projects to do. Wait, I just remembered the book Anne recommended. The Thirteenth Tale?

Welcome to our Candyland!

So we were the Candyland kids this year. . . but of course we were really sick from all that candy. In fact we weren't even going to give out candy this year and tell the kids we ate it all instead, but Dave caved and bought some.

Notice the puke on the path in the picture above? Yep, gross. Check out the slideshow underneath this post and you'll see more grossness! So fun!

We were told we weren't very scary this year, so next year we'll be more frightening. This year we were just gross! I've already got a new idea! And Kirsten if you're reading this, so should you!

We didn't get many trick-or-treaters. I think the trunk or treat was better this year and sapped them away. Oh well. Maybe we'll have to join them next time.

Halloween puking sick, but not really

Almost Zion. . .

On Monday we decided to head up to Springdale (which is at the mouth of Zion National Park) to enjoy some of the fall colors and have a picnic. We ate delicious burgers from Oscar's and then 'hiked' some trails. . . okay it was really just a nice walk. It was a lovely 77 degrees, and a little dreary of a sky, thanks to the fires in California, but at least we didn't need any sunscreen. Anyway, here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery, and yes, I finally got my fix of Autumn foliage!