Oh,

And no one thought I looked like my baby picture either. You'd have to verify it with my Mom, but as far as I know it is actually me. You be the judge. . .

Baby Shower!

I must admit that it is a relief to have the baby shower done with. I was obsessed with making it perfect (like that is even possible). And even more of a relief is that it turned out so well, (no brawls, though I doubt those are common in the baby shower genre). That just shows you how low stress can set the bar.

I hope that Tawni and Sarah could tell how much we love them. . . . by the turn out alone, you could see that no one wanted to miss out on congratulating them. I am so glad they could all be there!

So I planned about a dozen games, just in case something worked better than another in the moment. . . that's how obsessive I can get. What can I say, I'm a little rusty. The last baby shower I had a hand in was for Whitney, and Truman is how old now, Whit?

I had to cover my bases, and even then I think my games were a little harder than I thought they'd be. . . like this one, though I hope they enjoyed them anyway.In my estimation the event only fell short in one place, and that I can blame on the USPS. I could probably blame them for most anything, but this one in particular is irksome. My gifts for them were egregiously late. Fingers crossed they'll be here today. What can I say, it was out of my control.

So I've completed January, and I prayed it would be slower than December. It didn't turn out that way and yet I'm still here (for the most part). I can't really complain, I do enjoy being busy. Dave claims that I will always have a list of things to keep me busy. . . of my own doing, of course. C'est la vie.

Meanwhile, CONGRATULATIONS, Sarah and Tawni! The babies are adorable and so are you two!

The consequences

This is what the rain does to our little family. . .

Gotta love red dirt! The rainy season is killing me this year.

Consequently I've drawn up plans for what I want in our backyard. Maybe I'll put them on the computer so that you can have a preview of things to come. . . hopefully sooner rather than later. However, that being said, we don't know when that will be, and we'll let you know when we do. Don't add this to the list of things to hassle Mindy about.

Pics of a cold rainy day

today

Today, I finished our page on parentprofiles.com and will be heading down to the agency to sign the paperwork.

Today, I learned that teenage girls are seriously messy, and eat more than you would think. . .

Today, I am vowing to get my backyard finished. The rain we woke up with this morning renews my pledge to rid myself of muddy paws.

Today, I learned what biofeedback is and that I need to have it done to stop my headaches. I still blame Dave, but my doctor doesn't think so.

Today, I stayed in my pajamas until after noon. . . mmm and it was nice.

Today, makes it less than a week that I have to finish the baby shower preparations.

Today, I considered shaving my head. Bad hair is so fun, sometimes I think bald would be preferable.

Today, I got a package in the mail. . . I love those days.

Today, feels like a good day to stop doing all that other stuff and sit down and read my book. . . so that's what I'm going to do.

Sexiest legs?

Dave's decided to get his legs done.

Well, actually fixed. From all the walking on his mission Dave totally destroyed his left leg. . . and this year he decided he had enough of the pain and was going to finally have it dealt with. No worries, two procedures and two weeks of recuperation and he'll be good has new. He'll be so relieved to get rid of those bothersome veins. . . especially since he spends all day on his feet at work. Finally he'll have his prize winning legs back. . . just ask him about his award in high school. ; )

Two weeks of having his home like a slug might drive me insane however.

General Info

I still get a lot of questions about what is happening now with the adoption process, and so I thought I would give another little update.

Our paperwork and home-study have been approved, which means that we are available to adopt right now. We have paper files (otherwise called a profile) in all the agencies throughout the state of Utah, I believe that there are 20 or 22. I can't remember. We also have an online profile available for pretty much anyone to look at. I am working on a second online profile with another service, so we'll get more exposure.

How this works. . .

Birth-mothers (in our state) can go to the agencies throughout the state and look at the profiles that they have. They narrow down their choices and then select a couple that they feel will be the best family for the child. . . based on their personal criteria. That is why we had to provide so much specifically detailed information about ourselves and our family. The agency contacts us with the good news and we arrange a meeting with the birth-mother. If it is right for both sides then a plan is made and a relationship formed.

Option number two. . .

Birth-mothers from anywhere can also find us by our online profile. . . in which case they email us and we can talk. We work closely with our caseworker so that we can verify all information that we are given by people from the internet. If we are selected this way then it will still have to go through our agency and then the process is pretty much the same from there.

Our caseworker does not go out and find a baby for us. That is not how it works. It is so very important that the birth-mother picks us. . . for her and for us. It is beneficial on both sides which I would explain here but that would make this even more lengthy. Just believe me, I've done my research and study of adoption.

As you can see, we don't have the control in any of this. We are waiting for the birth-mother to find us, that is why it is important to let people know where to find our information. That is all we can do, and well, pray of course.

Hopefully this helps clarify our situation. Waiting is not fun, but it is worth it. We know that it will happen when it is right. Thanks for your support and help with all of this.

~mindy

Pics from Yesterday

A closet displaced. . . and replaced!

This was my guest room this week. All my art clutter exiled and displaced. Thankfully the work on my closet was a one day job and we didn't have to live with that mess for very long. Here is what my office closet looks like now:


















I even have space for more stuff! It needs a little more organizing, but it is such a vast improvement that I'm probably the only one who would notice that.

I close every drawer/cupboard/door, never fails. . . (Dave is the opposite of course), but now that my closet is done I just can't seem to close it off. It is just too pretty inside.

My wonderful Husband!

Wasn't he the cutest little red head? Well, to me he still is. If only I could get another photo like this one. . . picking his nose, crying, and looking a bit disheveled. . . adorable!

New Year's resolution number one. . . show more appreciation and gratitude. . . especially for Dave!

I love my husband! I am so lucky to have him, as my Mom is quick to point out constantly. Don't tell her, but she's right.

Dave is my angel. I am so spoiled to have a husband like him. A couple of years ago I made a list of things that I love about Dave. It was extensively long. I think I got to fifty before my hand gave in to carpal tunnel or something. I don't think he's seen the list. I don't want it to go to his head or anything. Then again, he needs to know how special he is to me!

So here is a taste. . . What I love and admire about my Dave:

His overwhelming compassion! You can see it in his eyes, but his actions follow suit. I have always admired how he treats people. Not quick to judge, and always willing to give help. He strives to see people as we all should. I respect that.

Unbelievable proclivity for patience. His skills as a peacemaker help me find balance. The man is level headed, which doesn't fit with his red-hair personality type, but I'm not complaining! I am so blessed to have his calming influence in my home.

Solidly supportive. With the amount of crazy ideas I come up with, he's always there to help me with them. He believes I can do anything, so either he's uber-supportive, or nuts. I'll take either I guess.

Silly. I fell in love with his sense of humor. Though I claim that he is a big dork at times, it inevitably makes me smile so I wouldn't want it any other way. He makes our home fun. I love that!

He's real. Not some facade of perfection. He is who he is and I don't think he can hide that. He wouldn't need to. I love all of him, his faults and all. I am lucky to know him 24/7 and see how much he works on himself and doing better. Dave, you help me to be better.

Thank you honey for being my rock! I appreciate you immensely!

mindy

Twitter

So I found this thing on the internet called :
And I thought I would check it out here. We'll see if it works out. Anyway, it is a micro-blogging service that I can do from my phone. I can just text in little snippets of things and they will automatically post it to my blog in the sidebar. Just random thoughts, but I thought it might be fun.

Scrapbooking 2007 digitally

I have been working so hard to get all of 2007 scrapbooked before the new year, but I ended up coming a bit short. Three layouts left. I hadn't had anything of this year scrapbooked so I had to do a layout a day for the past month. . . and to make it easier I did it all digitally. It has totally worked out, though I do miss working with all my supplies a little.

My excuse for not getting it all done, well there are a couple. Let's blame a head cold first. And then yesterday, I found that I didn't have enough pages in my album, and of course everything is closed for the stupid holiday. Oh well. It was a nice goal, and I made it all the way to November, so that is something I guess. Here are some of the layouts that I like that have been created recently:

I know there are a lot of white layouts here, but that is what happens when you scrapbook it all together. It was a preference that lasted awhile.

Three more to go and then I can welcome 2008 with the rest of you!