Therapy Part 3

OK, ok, so gyn oncologist. But before I get to that, I have to say thank you for the comments, support, and prayer. It has been crucial. We HAVE felt them. As for the B situation, I feel peace. A deep sadness for her, but a peace about the decision. That is thanks to you and your prayers.

I also want to be clear that although I don't know the end of B's story, or our story as far as growing our family, I do know one thing to be true. We serve a mighty God who knows our thoughts before we speak them, every hair on our head, and the farthest corners of our hearts. I do not for one second believe our journey to B was a wasted trip. We met some amazing people who are dedicated to babies (and older children and teens, yippee!) in the foster system. They are determined to provide a safe haven, if only for a day or two. I admire them. I admire their bravery. They are not ever going to have to look back on their lives and say, "Oh, we could have. I wish we would have." They did. They ARE the hands and feet of Jesus.

Tony and I have grown so much through this too. Our rationale about life and family was challenged and we grew. We grew spiritually. And friends, I cannot explain the joy that comes from being obedient. MAN, what a rush Peter must have had when he stepped out of that boat! We had that same rush. And I'm riding that same high! I LOVE following His commands. This was a particularly scary one, but we did it. And we did it with praise, and trust, and love. And would I do it again? OH YEAH! Which is scary. Because I 100% believe that He'll be calling on us again soon. Until then, I'll just continue to thank him for choosing us!

Which leads me onto the next part of my therapy. The oncologist post. For those who do not know, four years ago this week I had my right ovary and some lymph nodes removed. I had some weird hormone producing cyst/tumor things that were growing in/on/around my ovary, so my doctors felt it was best to just get it out of there! I agreed. They did not touch my left ovary because it was healthy, and in case we wanted to continue to try and have biological children. I was never diagnosed with cancer, WHOO HOO GOD!

Well, at the point of the surgery, we started thinking about the importance of growing our family. Biology wasn't important, even though it was still possible for us. We CHOSE adoption. (It's at this point, I can see God giggling to himself thinking how He knew the rest of that story and the joy he had in store for us). Surgery was in June, healed, started school, and then signed on for adoption through Ch*na in January of 06.

Blah, blah, blah...years pass and we are blessed with our twin daughters. Blessed doesn't even come close to an accurate word to describe how we feel about them. But I think you get the idea. Anyway, I started having some weird symptoms again (if you want those symptoms, email me...I'm already sharing TMI, I'm sure). So for the past, oh, six months I've been to the doctor, doing thousands of dollars in blood work, having ultrasounds, etc to find out...yep, you guessed it. They discovered a lovely little cyst on my left ovary.

So last Thursday, I ventured to a new gyn onc. (mine from the first surgery had moved to over three hours away). The entire staff was nice. From the front desk girl, to the resident doctor, even down to the girl who took my weight and blood pressure. Which my weight alone, can cause an entirely different therapy session!

I met with the doctor, who was a nice middle aged man in a bow tie. He came in and sat with Tony and me in the exam room. He hopped up on the exam table like a champ and leaned in to talk. In his professional opinion, and with my history, he said to go in and get it out. He said I would go ahead and have the total abdominal hysterectomy.

You know, I went into this appointment believing I would come out with him saying that exact same thing. My gut told me that's what I'd have to do. I had mentally prepared for it. Or, so I thought. But after he walked out and shut the door, I lost it. I cried and cried. My heart still aches. And bless that surgery scheduling nurse. She gave me a few minutes to pull myself together before she came to take me to the conference room. And even then, she reassured me she had a new box of tissues waiting on me in there.

It's weird. Big news like this does a number on one's psyche. But I'll save that one for my next post called, WHY HYSTERECTOMIES INHALE WITH GREAT FORCE! (aka, suck) I'll tell you how great Tony was during the whole ordeal. And I'll share my psycho perspective on all of this. Trust me. In that post, you'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll cringe. And I will have done my job.

Any thoughts/questions/comments, please share! And I'll be looking for your opinions, suggestions, and experiences after my next post too. I'll need group support, I'm sure!

Ok, my friends. I'm going to go spend time with my husband. My tanning bed burns are healed enough that I can snuggle once again! It has been too funny because the girls touch my arms and ask, "Does that hurt?" And my cheeks, "How about there?" They're ready for me to be better too!

Have a good night. And once again, thank you for being so supportive!

Therapy Part 2

OK, if you're just joining the group therapy session, pull up a chair and scroll down below and read Therapy Part 1.

Let's see...where did I leave off?

Before church, when we checked our mail, we found the password to access B's information. Hesitantly, I handed it over to Tony. All this build up. All the prayer. My prayer about this moment was, "Please, God. Make this clear. Make the decision clear."

Well, several minutes later, after we finished reading B's full biography and background, we sat back and looked at each other. B, the beautiful girl, was not meant to be our daughter. I cannot explain it. It was like Tony and I looked at each other and just knew. We both immediately said, she isn't meant to be our daughter. How could God lead us here when we know beyond a reason of a doubt that she isn't ours?

I am not going share anything about B's background. Legally, I can't. But beyond that, I wouldn't want to. It's her story. It's personal. And, friends, it's gut wrenching. I gasped throughout the profile and teared up often. This little baby girl...her life....robbed. The conclusion we both came to was that it would in no way be fair to B, or to our girls to bring her home. We expected many needs, but her biggest need is a family that can love on her individually and solely. She needs 100% attention. And our attention here would be divided. So unfair to her, to our daughters, and to us.

Church that evening was rough. Every time the music would start up, my tears would start up. This child of God. This precious child was someone's baby at some point. And all she wanted was love. The next few days Tony and I were just kind of numb. We didn't tell a lot of people...really, only those who asked. It was so hard. We grieved the loss of her life. We grieved the loss of this child that we had prayed for. Did we doubt our decision to let her go? No. Did we doubt God? No. Never, not once. We just grieved a little girl who would not come to know our love, except through prayer.

As instantly as we knew she wasn't to be our daughter, I also instantly knew that I would come unglued at the first person who said, "Well, maybe God led you to her because she'll lead you to your next child." Yes, that's possible, but I refused to believe that B was simply a stepping stone. She was a child. One that we had fiercely prayed and cared for.

So where does that leave us? Kind of confused. But resting in the knowledge that our God knows the rest of the story. We have not ceased in praying for B. She will forever be loved by us. She opened up our hearts to a group of children that have so very few people fighting for them. These teens are not embraced the way newborns are. There are 145,000,000 million orphans available worldwide. How is it I never knew about these kiddos right in our back yard?

Please my friends. Please, please, please pray for these children. So many of them have just been dealt a bad hand. They are pawns. They have little to no control over what happens to them. Who will be their voice? From here on out, I choose to be. I have to be. How? I'm not sure. But I will be. Tony and I will be. I mean, who is talking to them about Jesus? Anyone? Who is tucking them in? Who is telling them that they are loved? Even teenagers need tenderness. It's KILLING me. Will we bring a teen home? Or will our next child be an infant? A girl? A boy? Or is our family complete? Only God knows. And thankfully, I trust Him. But regardless, others WILL know about these kiddos. The ones no one thinks about. Others will know, and hopefully move on their behalf.

So there you have it. That was only the BEGINNING of the week. A loss.

The middle of the week wasn't much of an improvement. However, it was entirely my fault. I'm a moron. I tanned at the tanning bed. Wait. tanned is totally the wrong word. More like fried, cooked, baked, broiled, and blistered. It was terrible. That was Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning, I was up dry heaving, shivering, panicking, crying, and longing to be dead. One doctor's visit later, she confirmed what I thought. I got burned. Badly. Lovely.

So I couldn't move. Couldn't sleep. Couldn't play with the girls. Couldn't snuggle. Couldn't do hardly anything without wincing. Miserable. But little did I know, it would only get worse. No, not the blisters. I mean, they would hang on (are STILL HERE TODAY) but the week is what I'm referring to.

No, I'm not usually an Eeyore type person, but this was turning out to be a ho hum week. Most people live for the week to come to an end, but not me. On Thursday, I was going to have a doctor's appointment with a new gyn oncologist. Yeah, oncologist. I knew this appointment would determine a lot.

There's some history leading up to a visit to an oncologist, but this post is getting to be as long or longer than the first. So, I'll leave you here. But the therapy isn't over yet.

Life is scary. How do non-believers do it? How do they get up and face every day's trials without God?

I'll share more later...thanks for praying and loving Tony and me!

Therapy--Part 1

If this blog were a piece of paper, it would have been written on, erased, written on, erased, scribbled out, and then wadded up and thrown in the trash. Although I know I NEED to write this post, I just don't even know where to begin.

I guess before I dive in, I want to preface this by saying the post will probably be long. And I have to make a disclaimer...I am the author of this post. If you disagree with something I say, or an action I (or we) took, that's perfectly fine. What is NOT fine is slamming me in a comment. I don't expect you to always agree with me, but I do expect respect. I never leave rude anonymous comments on other blogs, so I expect the same thing here. I'm going to open up and share my heart. And even though I am loud, and brash, and opinionated at times, trust me, my heart is pretty darn tender. Play nicely.

There...let the therapy session begin.

Last week was one of the toughest weeks I have had in a long time. As a general rule, my life is pretty awesome. I have a fantastic family, a great set of friends, and a faith in God that has held me together. But last week really knocked me for a loop.

Some of you know that several months ago, a friend of mine, Sarah, sent me a link to the waiting children list from our home state. I had never before seen this list, so I set about looking through the information rather disconnected. It wasn't until a few children in my heart stopped. There was this beautiful girl staring back at me. Her heart was broken, I could read it in her eyes. Her shortened bio gave nothing but some basics about her favorite foods and what she liked to do. I read the five or six sentences about her, and clicked on. I skimmed several other pictures and bios before being drawn back to hers. We'll call her "B" for beautiful.

Well, after several minutes of exploring the site, I emailed B's bio to Tony. Just a fluke. I've done this many times before. However, this one was different. Tony replied to me and said, "Hmm, I wonder what her story is." My heart leaped. He wants to know more? He NEVER wants to know more! Then his next email said, "Um, she'll be DRIVING soon!" Yes, my friends, B was 15.

Bigger than the fact that she was 15 was that Tony, the love of my life, didn't freak out! He was interested in knowing more. He wanted to know how a teen could end up in a situation where no one wanted her. He wanted to know if she even wanted a family. He wanted to know the logistics of how this "foster care" program worked. So he set out to find out. Several emails later (even one to the Governor's office) we were able to get into contact with a case worker from our area.

Mind you, I had no idea this would even go that far, but since Tony said the most we would be out was time, I knew this had to be God-driven. Tony's way too cautious. God was here in this.

After much prayer and discussion, we agreed to meet with the case worker to see what the process involved. She warned us several times that the bios we see are merely paragraphs about them socially, but there was usually much much more to their story. She gave us the paperwork (ridiculously lighter pile than China's) and we set about in prayer. I won't lie. We argued with God. We weren't planning on adding to our family for a bit. And a teenager? No way. Not us. The thought was ridiculous. Why us? Why her? Why now? Like I said, life was pretty darn near perfect!

God didn't hide from us. His answer was clear. Take the next step. Trust Him and take the next step. He never promised to show us the entire path, but the next stepping stone was always in plain view. Trust Him. Take the next step. So, we did. We filled out the paperwork and began the process to become licensed Foster Parents.

During this time, we told a few friends and our family. Telling them that we were looking at a teenager who was legally free for adoption was no small feat. Every single person we told made a new wave of nausea then peace settle over me. It was scary territory, but one we trusted God to lead us into.

We got all sorts of questions...was she abused? how'd she end up here? will she be safe? how will you pay for college? what about a car for her? how can you love her when you already have children you adore? will we have room to love her? what about therapy? do you know what you're doing?

We wrestled with every one of those thoughts. It was hard to explain to our family and friends how when God whispered those words, "Trust me" directly into our ears and hearts, rationality disappears. Of course our daughters were our first priority. We love them so much it hurts. But God planted sweet B right in our paths. How in the world could we ignore that?

Literally, everything went so smoothly it was scary. Appointments that we would need to have, were scheduled months before we knew we'd need them. People were put in our paths that we had no idea we'd need for support (Both Beths!) This was God's story playing out before our eyes.

During the wait, the only thing Tony kept questioning was, "What if she doesn't even want a family? She is so close to aging out, what if she just wants to finish where's she has started and move on?" This was a reality because during this time B had turned 16. Only two more years and she would age out. Well, God heard Tony's cries and answered more plainly than I had ever seen before.

One day while I was checking the waiting children site, I found where a video had been posted of B. In her video, she was so tender hearted and nervous. But her underlying message was very very clear. All she wanted in life was a family to love her. She longed for a family. How's that for an answer to prayer? Yes, other children had said that in their videos, but none were as heartfelt as B's. She looked directly into the camera and said, "I want a family."

Fast forward a few months of appointments, meetings, trainings, workshops and you would find that we are officially licensed foster parents. YAY! It also meant that we would soon be allowed to read a larger biography and history on this child we had prayed for as a family for so long. We received our password a week ago Saturday, May 30. I was hesitant to jump online and read about her right before church, but Tony insisted. He needed to know.

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Wow. This is a long post. I hate to do this, but it's 1:00 in the morning. I have to get up to go to work tomorrow (my two week summer job) so I better get some rest. I promise I'll post again tomorrow (or tomorrow night). My therapy session is nowhere near being completed.

A Language All Their Own

They say twins have their own language. We agree. Sometimes, the girls get on a rip and Tony and I look at each other like, wow, what was that? But they totally respond to each other and move on. Twinspeak.

However, when you're three you also have your own language. I'll translate.

Slip Slops=flip flops

Slinkley=slinky

You, You, Get My Foood=Lou, Lou, Skip to My Lou

This was all just this morning. But there are more...I'll update as I hear them.

Memorial Box Monday

Gorgeous tree in our front yard a few weeks ago. It's all red now....

Ok, the title is deceiving. I am not doing a Memorial Box Monday post...I'm doing a MAN I'M GLAD SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER, MONDAY post!

WHOO HOO!!!!

There is going to be big fun in our house this summer! I just LOVE being home with the girls, and as soon as this stinkin' class I'm taking is done (coincidentally on my birthday-what a gift!) then we will have tons of fun!!!

Thought I'd leave you with some cuteness...

The other morning, this is what I heard. "Baba, I have the remote. You wanna watch the wedder channel? I find the wedder channel for you." She has MASTERED the remote. She's also learning tons about manipulating the computer. Scary stuff!

Laney: I ate all my ice cream, but I didn't want the strawberries. They make my eyes close! (They're too tart for her liking!)

And I took the girls with me to school last week. GOODNESS they are popular among the fifth grade crowd! But let me tell you how different they are. Laney starts out shy, but warms up and loves sitting and reading with the kids (or watching a movie, or playing, etc.) But Abby is always on the go and watching what is going on. Like I said, she'll be our tech guru. When I needed the door propped open, she jumped up and ran to do it. And we're not talking about putting a wedge under the door. It's a peg that you have to step on and click to hold in place. She also figured out to to manipulate these folding chairs just to her liking.

Here's Abby chillin' with a book at the library.

Here's the cutest puppy around...Laney thought the doghouse at the children's museum was great!

Thankful Thursday

Who wouldn't be thankful for this?

Mother's Day paintings, made with love.

T-shirt inspector stickers that double as band-aids for "tend" boo-boos.

A husband and daughters that love to do yard work together.

Thank you, God. I am so blessed.

Flashback Friday...on Monday...um, yeah.

To prepare for an upcoming garage sale (WHICH, by the way, I LOVE!) I decided to pull out my big tote of purses and sort through them. It wasn't hard to decide which ones to sell, and which ones to keep. Some were circa 1994. Wow. Yeah, I should part with those things more often!

I'm not sure what you do, but when I switch purses, I tend to only move over the "necessities" and plan on moving the other junk over at a later time. Yeah, well, that later time never shows up on my clock, so everything just stays in those purses. I started piling up all this stuff, and MAN! Talk about a time capsule! Who needs pictures? I have purses to provide more than enough memories and timelines! I cannot believe I'm going to show you this, but remember this pile developed after emptying about 10 purses! YIKES!

1. Tattoo ointment in a baggie Um, 7-10 years ago--ew!

2. Thank you card for good friend who arranged a bachelor party canoe trip for Tony. Yeah, over 10 years ago! Oh, and we obviously never sent it, but thanks BILL! He had a great time!

3. Floppy disk. Need I say more?

4. Big toothed comb for when I had big curly hair. Yeah. Yikes.

5. Disposable toilet seat covers. Ok, this is the most recent item and it's still close to two years old! We bought these to take to China!

6. Ticket to Ripley's aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN. About five years ago, I'm guessing?

7. One of about 100 tampons I found in each zippered pocket in each and every purse. Could you tell I was determined to be prepared? Just wait until a future post when I explain that it was a total waste of money right there!

8. 35 mm camera film. NO IDEA where my 35 mm camera even is!

There were also miscellaneous pens, lip glosses, lotion, toe rings, doctor reminder cards, receipts, and even our engagement picture! Uugh, and plenty of mushy, damp, gross Trident gum. Yes, my gum of choice (but we love Orbit and Stride too, should one of them want to sponsor this blog!)

Here's the aerial view. The purses in the tub are being sold at the garage sale. The purses on the right will go on Craigslist or Ebay. Anyone interested in a Coach, Prada, Gucci or a floppy disk? No promises on their authenticity! Well, except the floppy disk. Trust me. It's authentic.

Memorial DAY Box Monday

The weekend in review?

Stomach virus? Check.
Shopping? Check.
Thankful for the women and men God calls to serve in the military? Check.

I am so thankful for the women, men, and their families who sacrifice so much (and have sacrificed in the past) to serve our country. Your selflessness does not go unnoticed. We love and pray for you often. Thank you so very very much.

Thankful Thursday

This will have to be short and sweet...I'm a woman on a mission.

I HAVE to say this out loud (um, or type it) because I need to be reminded of this...

• I'm THANKFUL I have a job.

• I'm THANKFUL that said job wants me to stay up-to-date on skills and teaching strategies.

• I'm THANKFUL that they require me to take additional classes (that I pay for) to learn said skills and strategies.

• I'm THANKFUL that said classes have about 35 assignments to be completed in the next three weeks, because it helps me stay focused (in other words, NO BLOG TIME FOR ME). Yes, 35 assignments, and I just started the class this Monday!
  

• I'm THANKFUL said class ends June 12--coincidentally, my birthday!

Ok, my friends. God knows my heart, so truth be told, I am truly only thankful for the first, second, and last bullet point. Was it obvious?

YOUR TURN! What are you thankful for? Come on. Let me know. I need an attitude adjustment, and you can help me! Tell me your joys!

Ok, gotta go. More work to do!

Memorial Box Monday-the chapstick

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. This little girl was blessed with a set of parents that were together and in love. She was also blessed with two sisters, and a brother whom she loved so much. This lucky girl also had four amazing grandparents. Unfortunately, the little girl only got the chance to really know two of them. One was her maternal grandfather (Grandpa Schankel) and the other, her paternal grandmother (Grandma Sadler). Both were so special. Her grandpa would always yell, "Anybody?" when coming for a visit. He gave her a harmonica and promised she talked fast enough to become an auctioneer. Her grandma was a gifted seamstress. Her home in Florida and Indiana were both so inviting, and she made delicious yeast rolls! They both loved their family deeply.

When this little girl became a teenager, her grandmother became ill. She went into the hospital for surgery in a town over 60 miles away. This teenager knew she wanted to see her grandmother before her surgery. She felt SO strongly she needed to see her that she argued with her parents when they told her she didn't need to drive all that way. She bickered and bickered with them until they agreed to let her drive as long as she took a friend. This friend was her cousin (and had even less driving experience than she did!) But the two mustered up the courage to drive to the hospital.

While there, the teen and her cousin visited with her grandmother. They ran down to the giftshop to purchase a few items to cheer her up, and a much requested chapstick because the hospital air dried out her lips. While there, the teenage girl had the chance to love on her grandmother and tell her how much she meant to her. She thanked her for making her prom dresses, miscellaneous outfits, her quilt, and special Humpty Dumpty that she loved as an infant and treasured even more now.

The teenager was able to hold her grandmother's hand and caress the aged, tired fingers. After all these years, and after all the hard work, her hands were so smooth and soft. The teen noticed how some of her fingers were identical to her grandmothers. A genetic trait she would pass on.
It was a treasured time.

The next day, the teen's grandmother did not survive surgery. It was a painful time for her entire family, but the joy in the teen's heart was immense. See, the teen knew she'd be reunited with her grandmother one day. She was a believer! And she knew that her visit the day before was the peace that she'd need during this time.

Obviously, that little girl was me. I never truly appreciated my grandparents when I was younger. I'm so thankful for that last time I got to spend with my grandmother. And I'm thankful that I have chapstick in my Memorial Box to remind me to fight for those things that are important. It also reminds me to treasure those around me, for our time here is short.

I'm doing something now that reminds me SO MUCH of my grandma. I am sewing. On Mother's Day I borrowed my mother-in-love's (great term, Linny) sewing machine determined to teach myself how to sew. Since then, I have sewn the girls each a purse and wallet, and each of them a dress. (I'll add pictures later) When the sewing machine gets humming...I see, feel, and smell my grandma. She's a part of my past that I want to incorporate into my future. I'll take a bit from each of my grandparents...and for this I'm thankful. I can't wait to share these stories with my children.

Do you have special memories of your grandparents?

Flashback Friday

I need a laugh today, so I thought I'd do my flashback Friday post and then share two conversations I had with the girls yesterday.

A loooooong time ago, I used to be in love with Michael Jackson. There, I said it. Ok, and by "in love" I mean, obsessed. I had the records (btw, my fifth graders have NO clue what records are), the Pepsi cans with his image, the parachute pants, the buttons...I even had THE GLOVE! When my niece, who is just a couple of years younger than me, and I would play, we would fight over who could pretend to be married to him! We would practice his dance moves, and scream during Thriller. Now, mind you, this was when he had his original nose, hair, and skin color. But one obsessed girl I was! (I relate it to Hannah Montana or High School Musical fanatics now, which, I just don't get!)

I even went so far as to having a Michael Jackson birthday party complete with a MJ head cake. No, not three-dimensional...Charm City Cakes wasn't around back then! Just a flat cake shaped like his head! It was totally rad!! I would rather die than show you the picture, I mean, I couldn't find the picture, so you'll just have to visualize this chubby blonde chick with a wave hairdo and pink framed unicorn glasses, sporting some denim jams and a MJ t-shirt holding up a cake. Ok, that image right there made my whole day a lot funnier!

So, my flashback friends...I give you Micael Jackson this week. Admit it...how many of you were fans? Did you sport the glove and jacket? DISH!



P.S. If he weren't such a weirdo...I'd still be in love!


OK, gotta share these before I forget...
On the way home from the sitter we were talking. It went a little something like this...
Me: Did either of you have time-outs today?
Laney: YES! Abby did because she took some of my fings. (translation: things)
Me: Oh, no! Abby, did you do that?
Abby: Yes, but Laney had a time-out too! (Notice her James Bond technique of drawing my attention elsewhere?)
Me: You did too, Laney?
Laney: NO!
Abby: Well, I member seeing her in time-out last night! (Translation: the other day)
Me: Ahh, so Laney didn't have a time-out today? Because, if not, that doesn't count.
Abby: Oh. No time-outs TODAY.

Wherein, Abby's tactic worked. I got sidetracked enough we didn't really talk about why she got in trouble. Stinker.

Ok, second conversation...last night we were all cleaning and picking up the house. For the record, the girls really do a great job at helping. They have to be redirected about 1,000 times, but they still really do help!

Me: Ok, Abby, put that on top of the toy box, please.
Abby walks over to the toy box, where for some reason a stool was sitting.
Laney: ON THE TOYBOX, ABBY! ON THE TOYBOX, ABBY! (Yes, Laney is bossy!)
Abby tosses the item on the stool, on the toy box.
Laney: ...ON THE TOYBOX, ABBY! *sigh* Or the stool, whatever.

OH MY...she sounds like me!!!

Memorial Box Monday--the girls

Click here to view these pictures larger

**Picture courtesy of A Page in Time Photography/Christy Zettel

I was thinking about how to write my Memorial Box Monday post. I have a billion ways that God has blessed our family, but I couldn't think of a symbol to represent the story for today. Then, I stumbled across this picture. Perfect. (There are other amazing pictures Christy took, but they will be used on our blog later!)

Last week, I talked about Kairos. God's quality of time. Today, in my (pretend) Memorial Box, I'm putting a picture of my daughters. Two. Twins.

Yesterday, on Mother's Day, I went through a whole gamut of emotions. I felt SO thankful and grateful for my daughters. I felt pain for those who long for kiddos and cannot have them (or just can't yet!). I wanted birthmoms to feel joy that they chose a life for their child (and their adoptive parents) if they created an adoption plan. I was just all over the place. And I also reflected on how God bumped up my life resume by giving me the title, "Mama".

Years ago, when Tony and I were first married, we didn't want kids. (Gasp, did I say that aloud?) Then, about five years into our marriage, we noticed the hole in our hearts that were kid-shaped. Then, minus one ovary later, we started our adoption journey. And this is where I want to pick up.

You see, we went from not wanting kids, to being blessed with two incredibly amazing little people that God formed in His image, and meshed into our souls. But the amazing part is, we should have NEVER received twins to begin with!

I tread here carefully. Only once in our journey were we ever attacked over our adoption and I do not want it to happen again. But, I want Abby and Laney to know that our family was not created by some fluke, or government agency...but by the divine hand of God.

Here's how it goes...

• We didn't request twins. When we first started our journey, it was a big enough leap of faith to say, "Ok God. Our daughter is in China, you say? Ok, then here I am, Lord. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8) Especially when we didn't even want one child when we first got married! So when our homestudy agency asked if we wanted to be approved for twins, we were like, "Um, no thank you. One will keep us busy enough!" We didn't know we wanted twins, but thankfully, God did! After "The call" from our agency, we scrambled to get an addendum done. We had grown so much and KNEW these girls were meant to be ours!
  
• Ch*na has some strict financial guidelines regarding twins. The parents should be pretty financially set in order to care for two children, according to them. *cough, cough* Thank goodness we have some antiques and antique cars that helped us in this department!
• Ch*na also has a pretty strict policy that one parent should be a stay-at-home parent if twins are brought home. Well, we were not in the financial standing for one of us to stay at home full-time (and still aren't due to my shopping habit!) But somehow, that got overlooked!
• We were going the special needs route, with our agency. This was after much prayer and consideration. We felt strongly that our child would be on a list that our agency would get from Ch*na. However, our agency had NEVER received twins on their special needs list. (and they're a big agency!)

There are even more reasons we know that we serve a God who can look at a mountain and say, "MOVE!" and it does! The reasons I listed were all pretty big mountains. But our mountains, are God's speed bumps.

In June 2006, when we logged into the waiting line for our child from Ch*na, twin girls were NO WHERE on our radar. However, on August 24, 2007, when we got the call about LuLa and LuMei...nothing ever felt so right.

My heart flutters every time I think about how things could have ended up so differently had one little thing or another been any different. (Like, going to our first adoption meeting the month the girls were born, or switching to the special needs program at the precise time we did, when both girls were healthy and ready for a mommy and daddy to come get them!---KAIROS!) I am humbled to know that our God chose us to parent two of His very own. They were created to be our daughters.

So I'm tucking in this picture of our two girls. Our babies. Who share so many characterisitcs, mannerisims, and personality traits that we are dumfounded they're not biologically ours. They will forever know that we serve a God whose love picks up where our dreams leave off. That's our God. We dreamed a wonderful dream of parenthood. Thank GOD His plans are bigger than our dreams.

So, like Linny's story...although Ch*na said NO! God said YES!

Flashback Friday

On the way to school this morning, a local radio station was doing a "Flashback Friday" song. This got me thinking. How about a Flashback Friday post?

For my initial one, I'll keep it simple. It's just two words...

banana clip


Remember those? In the 80's when I had long blonde hair, I'd sweep it up in some cute, plastic, neon banana clip. Well, dare I say it? That trendy, girly, accessory store in the mall that we all love SELLS THEM NOW! My niece and I (she's just a few years younger than me) nearly DIED when we spotted them!!! Maybe they've been selling them for awhile. Who knows? I haven't been in the market for one since 1987!

How's THAT for a flashback?

Next Friday...Michael Jackson. YIKES!

***photos are from G*ogle Images...not from our family album!

Thankful Thursday

Today, I need this.

I'm thankful for whiney children. I'm thankful they grump, pout, cry, complain, sneak, and shout. Yes, you read that right. I'm thankful for all of that because that means I have children. Children who aren't afraid to express their opinions. Children who trust us enough to know that they can be their ugly selves and we'll still love them. (Kind of like our relationship with God!)

I have been blessed and challenged to raise two of God's chosen ones.

Thank you, Jesus!

Memorial Box Monday

A good friend of mine, Linny, does Memorial Box Monday posts on her blog A Place Called Simplicity. Here's how she explains it...

"The purpose of each Memorial Box Monday post is to remind myself and others of God's great faithfulness, His powerful provision and His Unexpected Gifts in each of our lives.

It is not a sign of super spirituality to have a Memorial Box. It is something that anyone who has seen God work in their lives can do. There are no rules....just sharing the story of something recent or long ago about how God showed up in your family (or just to you if you are single) to meet a need, rescue, protect, heal, or even give a surprise you didn't expect!"

So this got me thinking that I need to do a Memorial Box Monday post. But I'm overwhelmed. I mean, seriously. God has been so good. Where do I even begin? And besides that, the things I think represent or symbolize God's goodness are HUGE! They'd never fit in a cabinet! Guess I'll have to get creative! (Settle in, it's a long one)

Ok, a little lesson in language:Kairos
This word is one of the most important words to me, ever. According to Wikipedia, ancient Greeks had two words for time...chronos and kairos. Chronos means sequential time, while kairos is, "a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens."

In the New Testament, kairos means "the appointed time in the purpose of God." Both definitions essentially point to time that cannot be measured. This word came to life when a good friend, and pastor shared about kairos vs. chronos one Sunday morning in church. Probably one of the most powerful sermons ever!

I have two symbols of kairos...a drawing and a watch. Let me explain the watch. Waaaay back when Tony and I got married (10 years ago) I still had to do my student teaching for school. So we were married in March, I did my student teaching that fall, graduated in December, took a teaching assistant position for the remainder of the year and then started my search for my first real teaching job. People would ask me left and right if I had any leads on a job. May passed...no luck. June...no luck. July...no luck. And then August. Never once did I freak out. (For those of you who know me, this is amazing!) I just kept telling everyone that it would work out. No worries. Just faith in God. (Tony on the other hand was a nervous wreck, I'm sure because he's the financial guy!) Just a few weeks before school started, I got a call about a position in the district I did my student teaching/teaching assistant positions in. A perfect fit! At a perfect time!

It was also during this time that I stopped wearing my watch. I can't remember what specifically led me to do it. Maybe it was a sermon. Maybe it was a story I read. I just vaguely remember someone referencing the need to look at a watch non-stop and how was that living? Truly living? And I'll admit. I would get hung up on the time surrounding the experience, and not the experience itself. Therefore, my first symbol of time, of God's timing, is a watch. But my watch is a little different. The face of the watch is covered up with black electrical tape. I don't need to focus on MY timing of things. Just God's timing. Kairos.

When Tony and I were exploring options about how to add to our family (biological, adoption, fostering) we looked into international adoption through Ch*na because the timeline looked reasonable and the program looked stable. We were told after we submitted our dossier to expect an eight to nine month wait. There were those timelines again! So we logged in and waited. And waited. And waited. Each month the finish line would be stretched out. (NOT complaining though...the wait is NOW is extreme!)

During the wait, we experienced lots of joys, friendships, trips, excitement, sadness, longing, depression, confusion, etc. God heard the cries of our hearts. He knew we wanted to be parents badly! He knew we had waited years by this point. He knew we were ready!

Well, my friends, as the saying goes...hindsight is 20/20.

During the wait, a good friend of mine, Sarah said she had a surprise for me. She said she had a vision one morning and shared that vision with a friend of ours, Shannon. She said the picture she was given was directly from God. Shannon decided to turn God's picture into a reality. Shannon sketched a beautiful picture of Jesus's hands holding a baby and had it framed. This is the picture you see at the top of the post. It's gorgeous and now hangs in our hallway! They gave that picture to us during one of our lowest lows, and I bawled while accepting it. There was God...my Father...holding my baby. So safe. So loved. Kairos. HIS timeline. Not mine.

Fast forward. I have looked at that picture a thousand times. While we continuted to wait, I would pray for my baby (didn't know about twins at the time) every time I passed it! I would look at it with joy, and thanksgiving, and with longing. Once the girls came home, it continued to hang in our hall. I still looked at it each time I went into our room, or the nursery, but never gave it much thought...until one day. I stopped to look at it again. As I was examining it, I looked at Shannon's signature. Then I looked at the date. I know I gasped outloud when I read it. Shannon had drawn that picture the month our girls were born. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Shannon had drawn that image the WEEK the girls were born. Did you read that, my friends? The same week. I cried all over again a whole new set of tears. My God loved me enough to send my friends this picture of Him holding my baby.

I know you're wondering, baby? But don't you have twins? Yes, I do. But I believe wholeheartedly that the picture God gave Sarah is of him holding Abby. You see...not long after she was born, she got very very sick. Very sick. Like a "praise Jesus she's with us and not with Him" sick. And little did I know that during that time, God was nestling our baby Abby in His arms.

Kairos. QUALITY of time, not QUANTITY of time. I know it's easy to tell someone, "It's all in God's hands." or "It's His plan." or "In His time." But you know what. It's the truth.

WOW

Doing a quick blog walk through some blogs that I follow, I stumbled upon this amazing story!

Read about how God brought a family their daughter from Ch*na (a 13 year old nonetheless), but had more in store for them than they could imagine! Click HERE.

Help them out if you are able!

Thankful Thursday

Father,

Thank you SO much for today. Thank you for the refreshing rain pooling outside my window. Thank you for the nourishment it provides the earth. Thank you for the gorgeous flowers and plants that will grow because of it. Thank you for your promise to Noah that this will not last forever. Your rainbow is evidence of that.

Today, Lord, I want to thank you so very much for my family. I cannot thank you enough for them. I am amazed at how you created us all so differently, but so in-tune with one another. During times of frustration and concern, YOU draw us back together. I'm thankful that we can vent to, cry, scream, laugh, tease, challenge, hug, share, and love one another. I'm thankful that you put them in my life to help carry my burdens, and dance in my joy. I'm so thankful that our family will be whole again (SOON!) and that we will continue to grow in You. I'm thankful for marriages, births, adoptions, friendships and other avenues that help us add to our family. We are by no means perfect, but oh, perfectly meshed.

I'm looking forward to see where You will lead us, as a family, in the upcoming days, months, and years. I pray that we will enjoy life as a family here, and then be reunited in Heaven. Thank you for that opportunity.

I'm so blessed to call my family, mine.

Thank you, Jesus.

Amen

P.S. To my bloggy friends...I'm thankful for Linny who started these posts! I just had my sister email me her Thankful Thursday list!!! It's catching on and helps us with our focus!!

PREACH IT, SISTER!

Let's face it. If every preacher looked like me...more people would be paying attention!

Preach it, sister!

I just needed a smile tonight. I dug through some pictures of our latest trip to the children's museum, and found these two pictures. They were taken in a mini-chapel in one of the many rooms of the museum. I just love them.

The girls love church. If you ask them where they want to go (like on a free Saturday, etc) they'll almost 100% of the time say, "Church!" They love it. We love that they love it! We pray they grow up to be strong women of God. I guess this is a good place to start!

Let's Storm Heaven

You, my friends and family, have been so faithful. When we have needed prayer, you have stepped up to the plate. When we have needed encouragement, you rallied for us. When we have needed a place to vent, you listened.

Well, today I am asking that you kneel before God and pray wholeheartedly for someone you don't even know. We have become friends with an amazing couple named Linny and Dw. Our friendship started out in Blogland. Then we traversed into Emailopolis. From there, we ventured to Phoneland and Textville. And this fall, God willing, we will actually meet right here!

These two have a heart for the Fatherless like no one I know! They also have a heart for spreading God's love both here and to the far stretches of this world. I am blessed to call them friends.

I know I have mentioned them before, because their story is amazing. However, during the past few months, Satan has been doing a number on them. He has attacked by way of fire (burning their log cabin down), sickness (each one in the family--even appendicitis!), death of a beloved pet, and various other ways. Did they ever lose faith? NO WAY! Did they continue to praise God? YES!!! They know the victory is His!!!! That being said, their latest attack is just heart wrenching. Click over HERE and read what they're dealing with now.

I'm going to wrap this up with a serious request. Please pray for them. They need our prayers now more than ever. I KNOW you all pray for them. Do it on bended knee, or just whisper a little cry out to God. Thank you, my friends.

Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."

Some Pictures...

Hello all. It's been a busy weekend. Cannot believe it is 9:12 PM Sunday evening already. Well, I was looking at some pictures we downloaded recently and decided to share a few. Each photo could (and may) have a post of its own. Enjoy. We'll (probably Rett) post later this week with some other fun stuff. Have a good week!
The girl's recent artwork proudly displayed in the living room.

(We swiped this idea from Jon and Kate Plus 8)

Maiden voyage on their new bikes-thanks Aunt Robin and Uncle Duane!

Abby polishing up her Jeep after bringing it out of hibernation.

Thankful Thursday

Oh....I am SO thankful for conversations with three-year olds!

Driving home from the sitter's house yesterday, the girls and I were chatting. Here's how the conversation went.

Laney: I don't like bugs.

Me: Why?

Laney: Because they scary me (they both say scary for scared)

Me: But, bugs are little. You are a BIG girl. Nothing to be afraid of!

Abby: Bugs don't scary me. They tickle me. They tickle my hands.

Me: Yes they do tickle sometimes, with their tiny legs! Laney, did you know God made bugs?

Laney: Yes.

Me: So see, bugs are special. God made them, just like He made you, and me, and our family!

Laney: And Abby! God made Abby too!

Me: Yes! God DID make Abby too! God made lots of special things. He made them for us to enjoy! It's ok to be afraid, but most bugs don't hurt you. Do you understand?

Laney: Yep. Bugs are scary.


WOW...that went nowhere fast! However, last night during prayers Laney did say..."And thank you God for making bugs." Yeesh.



Abby's conversations are comical too. A recent one went like this:

"Hmmm, dogs, cats, horses. What are all of those, Abby?"

Abby: Animals.

"Good!!! Ok, hamburgers, cake, ice cream. What about those?"

Abby: TASTY!



I love, love, love my funny girls! THANK YOU JESUS!

The EGGsperiment

OK, so here are the steps I took to try and boil some EGGcellent eggs.

1. Place the eggs in the pot GENTLY (ahem, no Abby...GENTLY!)

2. Fill the pot with cold water, just until the eggs are covered.

3. Place the pot on the stove and turn it to medium-high.

4. As soon as I had a rolling boil going, I turned the stove off and removed the pot from the burner. I covered the pot with a lid.

5. I set the timer for EGGactly 15 minutes (sorry to the poster who said 11--I had three other people say 15, so I went with the majority) and after that time, poured the water off and rinsed with cold water.

6. After rinsing the eggs, I put them in the fridge to chill.

7. Following some time in the fridge, I did a test peel. An, EGGsample, if you will. Um, it didn't bode well.

8. I then enjoyed dying the eggs with the girls and Tony a day later. They did a great job and only cracked two!

9. We hid PLASTIC eggs for our hunt, so I could have the real eggs to eat! I started deshelling (um, is that a word?) the colored eggs.

I must say...after an EGGstrodinarily large amount of opinions, I was a bit nervous on how these would turn out. However, my fears were unfounded! Out of about 20 eggs, all but three ended up naked with minor scarring. I was way impressed. Even Tony thought that was amazing. The girls, however, didn't care. They just wanted their hands on those eggs. They devoured them! Now I just EGGpect some stinky girls over the next few days!! :)

Here is a naked egg with minimal scarring!

Thank you to EVERYONE who gave their input. You are a bunch of smart cookies! EGGsperts, even! I'll be turning to you again soon, with my next cooking delimma!

Have an EGGciting week! (I know, enough of the egg talk)

HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

Thankful Thursday

Want to know what I'm thankful for? Well, I just want to thank the good Lord above for friends and family that are supporting us in "Operation: Boil the Egg". I will be testing out ONE of your recipes TONIGHT and will report the results soon!

If they turn out well, I will blame YOU! If they turn out poorly, I will blame YOU!

:) Heheh, you get the credit either way.

Thank you, seriously, for supporting us in both big and small ways. Although this mission is severely less important than some of our others, you still stepped in to help! You guys ROCK!

OK, I'll report my findings SOON!

P.S. For those who didn't see Tony's comment on the last post, he said he'd be happy to test out sample meatloafs from anyone who wanted to drop one by!

While I'm in the Middle of All These Deep Thoughts...

Ok, so another deep thought/post coming your way....

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to cook. Seriously. I go through phases where I want to cook up a storm and try new things. Usually, this happens in the summer when I have more time. Seriously, though, I make a mean Thai peanut chicken. And my biscuits and gravy aren't too bad, usually. My mom is a crazy good cook. The kind that says, "Oh, just throw a handful in." A handful? WHOSE handful? Mine? Or Abby's? But her cooking is so good, she puts Paula Deen to shame! :) Sorry, Paula!

But there are two things that I cannot, will not, am not able to make. Ever. Period.

1. Meatloaf

2. Hard boiled eggs

Done laughing? Well, I'll give you a second. Ok, done yet? Why does this even matter? I'll tell you.

1. Meatloaf--Tony LOVES meatloaf. It is his favorite, all-time meal. He would choose meatloaf over a big slice of chocolate, gooey cake. But my meatloaf, well, it's one big surprise from one meal to the next. I follow the SAME recipe every time, but sometimes it's too moist. Sometimes it's too dry and it falls apart. Sometimes it is just YUCK! No, most of the time it's just YUCK! Truth be told, I have my dad make the meatloaf if we're going to have it. His meatloaf ROCKS!

1. Eggs. My enemy. No matter how I cook them...salt the water, drain and run cool water over them, blah blah blah...I cannot get the shells to come off! I cannot get them out of the shell as a whole egg. When I am intending to make deviled eggs, I usually make egg salad because they're all broken up! Now, I'm being vulnerable here. Be kind!


With Easter being this weekend, you can see my stress. My dilemma. Can you help? PLEASE? How do YOU hard boil your eggs? Leave your tips and tricks for me! I'm COUNTING ON YOU!

Anyone?

OK, I'm going to be transparent here...this is about my deepest post to-date. Grab a box of tissues. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Back yet? Good...ok...here goes.

Does anyone, other than us, hide from the Schw*n man? You know, the guy who drives around in the big yellow truck and delivers yummy, but 0h-so-expensive food? heheeh. Yeah, on off-pay weeks, we might just be found at home, with the lights off, in stealth mode.

This week, however, we hit a new low. After taking a great walk around the 'hood with a friend of ours, we spotted the infamous yellow truck. We quickly assessed the situation (NO CASH) and put our plan into action. Amazingly enough it was pretty easy to bring Beth (the aforementioned friend) to the dark side. She walked to the corner to figure out his location. Upon realizing the seriousness of the situation (NO CASH) and the fact that we didn't know this particular salesman, we put our plan into action! We crept in the front door, and kept all of the lights off. We continued to hold Beth hostage until we got the all clear. This would involve Tony dropping flat on the floor and doing an army crawl under our picture window! Yes, you read that right. TONY did a duck and cover!

After we picked Beth up off the floor from laughing so hard, we continued to wait him out. Doorbell rang. Knocking ensued. But the VICTORY was ours! The only evidence of his visit was the little yellow paper stuck to the front door to remind us when he would be back!

Yes, our girls are in on it the whole time. They know the drill!

Later we were joking that God trusts us to parent. Tony works as a key decision-maker for the city, and I teach. Yet, we cannot muster the courage to turn the Schw*n man away, so instead we hide. How pathetic are we?

So the need for tissues earlier was really to help you wipe up the tears from laughter after you visualized our family in our bunker in suburbia. HOWEVER, I KNOW that some of you do the SAME thing! So don't judge us! :) It's time that we hiders, unite! Leave us a comment and let us know if you have ever hidden from a delivery guy/gal, a salesman, or your relative! HA!

Creepy

It's creepy. I just updated my status on Facebook to say, "Rett is thinking that being obedient to God isn't always popular. And it sometimes increases the Tums intake." I posted that because, well, Tony and I are those unpopular, Tums eating people trying to be obedient. I'm working on a longer post about it, because frankly, I need the therapy of writing it out. But for now, I wanted to share something creepy about it.

I wrote that status update and then popped over to our blog to read the daily scripture. Look to the left, you'll see it. It says, "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Acts 20:24

Ok, God, I get it. It's not about people agreeing with what we're doing. It's not about people questioning our sanity. It's about completing the task you have given me. Given us. Just stepping out in faith and being obedient. We want to shout about and show your grace, and this task you've given is a good way to do that. Please, God, remind me of this often. You are God and we are your followers.

This post may mean nothing, or seem really confusing to some of you. And that's ok. I needed to work it out...and I'm sure there will be more on this topic later. I hope that, if anything, the scripture God gave me today, applies in your life today too.

And if you know someone who is being challenged to step out of the boat, encourage them. Pray for them. Support them. And if you think they're nuts...tell God, not them. Trust me. They're going to need you.

Ok, I promise, a fun post will happen soon. We've had a fantastic spring break of firsts. Museums, libraries, art...so much to share and rejoice about. Stay tuned!

Thankful Thursday/Photo Friday

Greetings.

It's me again (Tony). I hope all is well out there...it seems this world just keeps getting scarier every day (I will keep those views to myself during this post)...BECAUSE this is Thankful Thursday and I will discuss what I am thankful for...

I am thankful for a job (and Rett's) that allows me to spend time with the fam. when Rett is off.

I just finished my second day at home with Rett and the girls. It has been a great vacation thus far. Yesterday we visited the Children's Museum in Indy (photos on another post), strolled through some malls and had a good day. Today, was filled with appointments this morning and then an afternoon painting the hallway (ok, Rett did the work, and I am thankful because we did not kill each other during the process...painting is not one of those things we do well...but it did work out well in the end).

Tomorrow we have a few things to do in the morning but we plan to take the girls to the library. They have never been before. They LOVE books. I cannot wait to see their heads spin when the see all the books :) We're planning an art project for the afternoon...we'll post photos if it goes well.

I am thankful that although life gets ugly sometimes, it could be worse. We are blessed and we all need to remember that everyday.

Since this Thankful Thursday post is late in the day, here are a few photos to kick off Photo Friday...enjoy and have a great weekend!!!!!!

Abby enjoying chocolate pudding...enough said.

Laney in the morning before she gets her daily banana and doughnuts.

Ok, I know this is random, but here is a photo of one of my turtles :)

Happy Anniversary--um, late!

March 13, 1999...it was cold, it was blustery, and it was perfect. This was the day I married my best friend in the whole world, Tony. We had dated since the beginning of my freshman year and his sophomore year. In high school. Yes, high school. We met at a youth group meeting at our church...where his mom was the leader! I remember it well! It was in May because we were celebrating one of his (now our) best friend Paul's birthdays. It was fun. These guys were upperclassmen and fun! By that August, we were officially dating!

Tony is what I would call a planner and a provider. He worked hard in high school and was bound for college (all while working at his dad's service station).

Tony decided to stay local for college (hmmm, wonder why he did that) and worked hard on his career plans. He was determined to graduate from college and have his career established before we started a life together. Half of me was so impressed and thrilled that he wanted to provide security for me, for our future. The other half of me (ok, more like 3/4 of me) wanted to start our lives together. NOW!

Well, Tony got his first "real" job, bought a house and then proposed! He proposed in November (the same month eight years later we met our girls...actually, down to the same week...the week before Thanksgiving!) and we were married in March. It was a fun ceremony with our two of our good friends and pastors performing the ceremony. The hallelujiah chorus played after they announced us as man and wife and bolted out the door to run through McD*nald's drive-through! Our reception was fun, and our cake was topped with Hot Wheels! What a memorable day! (It was complete with bridesmaids dressed I loved and they hated. hehe)

Over the past ten years we have grown up and grown together in so many ways. We have moved once, changed jobs once or twice, and built our family. We have suffered through the deaths of a few family members, and the deaths two pets we considered our first "children". We have had to step out in faith together, and pray for direction. We have laughed, cried, fought, made-up, laughed some more, and loved intensely.

Words will NEVER be able to express the love I have for Tony. God spoiled me rotten with this man. He puts God first, and cherishes his family next. He always thinks of others before himself and challenges me to push myself and grow in God and in life.

I am so happy we have been blessed to enjoy 10 years as a married couple (that's almost 19 years total together for those of you keeping track). I pray that God blesses us with a hundred more years together!

I love you, Tony! Happy 10th anniversary!

Happy Birthday, Skate Diva!

My niece Kristy was surprised on February 28, with a birthday party (whispers...a 30th birthday party) at our local roller skating rink! It was BIG fun and brought back sixth grade memories!!

The morning of the event, we asked the girls if they wanted to skate later and they cheered, "YES!" But, when we asked them if they even KNEW what roller, not ice, skating was, they looked puzzled and answered, "No!" So Tony dug up our old fashioned research guide...YouTube...and showed the girls what skating was all about. Boy, were they pumped! All day they kept asking when we were going to surprise Kristy and go skating! The anticipation was killing them!

We arrived at the rink at our scheduled time and Kristy rolled in a few minutes later. Mind you, we weren't all in place because the decoy forgot to call and warn us they were almost there! It didn't matter...Kristy nearly died when she pulled in the parking lot! Whoo hoo!

We filed inside laughing the whole time. Talk about a blast from the past. The rink hadn't changed ONE bit since we were kids. Ok, I lied. The PacMan arcade game was replaced with one of those durn stuffed animal cranes. (What's up with that anyway?) The smells, the skate counter, the trippy colors and disco ball. Even the kiddie rink and the bearded umpire skate dude was still there!

Tony took our tickets up to get the girls each a pair of skates. (NO skates for us, thank you!) They were so cute...see below.

Sorry for the crummy pic of the girls together. I was playing with different settings on my camera. Note to self: this setting didn't work!

Well, we headed to the kiddie rink where bearded umpire dude instructed us to work on getting the girls to just WALK in their skates...that the skating will come later. Well, Laney got the walking thing down right away, while Abby thought, "Why walk when you can roll?"

Tony is doing such a good job! I abandoned them to snap a picture, like any good Mama would!

Kristy (and her aunt Jill) were too sweet when Abby announced she was done with the kiddie rink after two minutes and wanted to "Go out there"...to the abyss of skaters on the big rink. They rolled her out there, and took the time to go around the rink with her. She looked like such big stuff! It was painstakingly slow...but they were troopers! Abby even got a taste of skating with the black light on!

Soon after this picture, Jill rolled up to save Kristy and help them move a little faster!

Finally, Laney was brave enough to try it and Jill and Kristy took her out to do the Hokey Pokey. Oh my word...she LOVED it! Such a big girl! (Warning! Another dark picture alert!!! But if you focus really hard on the middle, you'll see they're down in the low Hokey Pokey position!)

One of the funniest moments was when Abby decided she was ready to go back out and wanted my nephew (and Kristy's brother) Jeremy to take her. Here's this tall handsome adult who is shy as can be (unless he's around family) and this little tiny girl skating together. The best part was when he was like five feet from us and turned around and asked, "Now, which one do I have?" Um, Abby, Jeremy!



The girls had a great time and didn't want to leave. They were such good girls, and they had only napped about 20 minutes or so!


I think Kristy had fun too...it was a neat way to celebrate such a milestone birthday.

Happy Birthday, Kristy. You've been such a close friend over the years. I'm glad we were close enough in age that we grew up together. I treasure you so much! I hope you had fun!!!!

Count to 10...

So, you know the cool-down technique of counting to 10 when you're angry? Yeah, well, focusing on taking pictures of the twinados' latest debacle was my "count to ten before you blow".

Ok, let me set up the scene...while I was cleaning, the girls had a great time taking everything off of Laney's bed and piling it in Abby's bed. Once this task was complete, they both climbed in Abby's bed and just played and played. This gave me time to run around and get some cleaning done. WHOO HOO! Thanks girls, for cooperating!

Then...the call. Tony was at his third service for the weekend doing some vice-chair of the board kind of things when he called home to see how things were going. In the time it took me (yeah, isn't that the phrase most parents utter when they're getting ready to explain what they came back to?) to answer the phone, walk into my bathroom to pick up the trash bag, take it in the kitchen, and return to their room...THIS is what my two "cute", "adorable", "precious", "darling" little angels did.




For those of you who can't quite tell what the pictures are...the girls got the lovely PINK and PURPLE nail polish that their cousin Missy bought them off their dresser. (For the record, I had it out so that we could do manicures and pedicures after nap!) They proceeded to open the bottles, climb into Laney's empty bed (THANK GOODNESS) and paint their toes, legs, hands, etc! AAACCCKKK!!!!!!


I must say, Abby at least understood the paint was supposed to go on her toes. Mind you, it was so thick, her toes were webbed together. YUCK!

Laney, however, chose the bright PURPLE and decided her legs needed a good coating too, along with her feet (both top AND bottom)!

OH--and I only had was one tiny travel size bottle of nail polish remover!

Bless those girls' hearts...Ok, my friends. Lay it on me. Tell me a story about what your sweeties have done while your back was turned! Misery loves company!!!

Tony's Thankful Thursday

Ok, so Rett set me up. Is it because she does not think I am thankful for anything? Or does she think I should be posting on here more (I did the polyphenol post by the way). I think more dude's need to be posting on their family's blogs by the way...

So where do I begin...I am thankful for so many things. To start, I am of course thankful for my lovely wife, even after she set me up for the "thankful Thursday" post. Is there such a thing as blogger peer pressure (I guess so)? I am thankful for my beautiful daughters that keep us laughing and wondering why we are so lucky to have them, my family and friends.

From there, I'm lucky to have steady employment, a job that keeps me challenged and helps pay the bills. (Here I am presenting to city council which is shown on public access...the girls think I am cool)

Yes, there is more, but do you want to hear it all now? How about how Laney (our 3 year old traffic cop) yells at me for turning left when the traffic light is red (WHY ARE YOU GOING ON RED BABA????? she yells every morning)...she hasn't figured out the green turn arrow yet, but I am impressed that she understands the traffic signals. And how about how Abby still loves to be picked up and just carried around and has dance moves like no other. She kind of has the Elaine kick going on (Seinfeld fans may understand) when she dances. Hillarious!!!

Well, Rett is harassing me to read this post...you can blame her because I am cutting it short. Thanks for stopping by. Have a good weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Good grief! It's Thursday already??? Holy cow...well, I am exercising my wifey right to pass the buck. It's time that Tony does a thankful post. :) It might not be until tonight, but it can be called "Thankful Thursday Night". Don't get me wrong, it's NOT that I'm NOT thankful...trust me, I have a billion things to praise God for! I just think he should get a turn! Just to prove it to you that I am still thankful, I'll list a few before I sign off.

• I'm thankful that tomorrow is the last day of our state testing. My poor students have been so stressed out!
  
• I'm thankful for family and friends that love me, in spite of my flaws.
• I'm thankful for my health. (Good reminder, Sarah)

And finally...

• I'm thankful I serve a mighty God that knows how my story ends! (Even if He won't let me in on it when I think I should at least get a memo!)