Poor Pup!

Sadie LOVES looking outside, but she is running out of places to do it. First we moved our couch in front of the living room window, then we put the toy box/bench under the dining room window, and finally, we put curtains on it. This means that there is only a tiny tiny space for her to rest her paws on to look out. (And we rarely have the door open, esp. now!)

Yesterday I was working at the dining room table, and I heard the dog making some noise. I'm still not sure if she were doing it because something was outside or if it were because the cat was sitting on that tiny tiny space she can use.

The cat definitely interpreted it as being at her, and she gave the dog quite the death stare. It was quite creepy. I finally intervened and sent both of them away. Poor pup, all she wants to do is look outside!

Please don't leave me!!

Keeping Busy!

I am trying to keep busy right now, so I decided to strip the wallpaper in the baby's room today. My friend Katie came over to help (and my mom stopped by and helped for a while too!), and we almost got it finished. There is only 1 1/2 small panels left. After that, I need to wash off the glue residue and prime the walls.

We aren't painting it until we have a baby, and if it's a boy, we'll have to wait until our bedding comes in. (The girl's bedding is sold in store and not just online.) I mentioned making it gender neutral, but Mark really wanted it to be pink if it's a girl and blue if it's a boy :) So did I, but I thought that I'd at least give him the option of getting it down now.

I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished!

**If you want to see two really cute nursery's, check out Maddie and Jack's blog!**

FYI

I HATE grading papers, and I've been doing it ALL day. Yuck!!

Interesting Question

Tonight Mark and I went to a Red Wings hockey game. WM has a suite, and the group that was going to use it tonight went to the Lions game instead (I'm sure they're regretting that now!), so we were invited.

While we were sitting there, the person next to Mark said that he knows very little about adoption and asked it it were hard. We said that it was a lot of work and steps, and then he asked how it worked. No lie, this is what he said--"So, do you just go into a room of babies and pick the one you want?" Not quite. Obviously we explained that it was the opposite--that we make a book about ourselves and birth parents come in, look at the books, and choose a family.

I didn't realize how little some people know about adoption. He was very interested in it and not demeaning or derogatory like some many other people are. If only everyone asked questions like he did there might be more adoptions and fewer children languishing in foster care and orphanages.

Finally Finished!

As some of you may know, I've been dragging my feet on making our adoption scrapbook/portfolio. At first I was really excited to get it going and went out and bought the supplies, went to the agency to look at other people's books, and everything. But when it came time to actually do it, I froze. The knowledge that someone would look at the book and decide whether or not to give us their child is overwhelming.

But, this weekend I was motivated to work on it, and I did! I deleted a few pages that I planned on putting in it (holidays and friends), but I figure I can always put them in later if I want to. I just needed to finish it.

At the end of the book, I included this poem that I wrote several years ago. It just seemed to fit.

How Will God Send You?

Will you be our own flesh and blood,
A blending of Mark and me,
A tangible result of our love?

Will you be a sacrifice of love,
Tearfully given by the one who
Conceived you, carried you, and delivered you,
Only to give you to us,
The ones chosen to raise her child?

Will you be matched to us
By an oh-so-far-away agency,
Trying to create families,
Making the careful matches,
Holding others’ happiness in their hands?

Does it even matter how you come?
You will be ours regardless
Of how you arrive.
You will be the answer to so many prayers,
The product of years of waiting and believing,
God’s gift to us.

To my Grace Livingston Hill Fan

I have a gift for you, but I don't have your address. I tried looking you up online, but I'm pretty sure the address listed is an old one. E-mail me your new one and then watch your mail box!!

Weekly Wrap

1. Fall Quarter is almost officially over! I had my last class on Wednesday, and grades are due by Monday. I still have a decent bit of grading to do, but it shouldn't take too too long.

2. Tomorrow night we're going to our first Red Wings hockey game! Even better, our tickets were free, and they're in a suite!

3. I met my sales goal for my Lia Sophia jewelry party. I couldn't believe it when my boss bought a necklace from me! I also have FIVE commitments for parties and at least one more pending. I need at least six by the end of January, so that's really cool!

4. Mark got our new computer reconfigured and hooked up to the internet. It's nice to have a working desktop again! (Esp. since it's the computer that has a printer!)

5. I sold six books on ebay and am going to the post office soon to mail them out. Once I figure out how much I made, I'm posting a few more things. I have boxes of books that are leftovers from garage sale donations (and we donated several boxes to Salvation Army too!). Some of the books I have are from the early 1900s, so that's pretty cool.

6. I only have one Christmas gift left to buy. I finished all my other shopping a week or two ago. It's nice to not have to worry about that! I just need to get a few things for myself (my parents give us money, we buy our own gifts, they wrap them, and if we can guess what it is before we open it, we get a dollar!). So far, I've bought a few Lia Sophia earrings, necklaces, and a bracelet with my hostess bonus perks. I can't wait for them to come in!

7. This Wednesday is our last homestudy visit. After that, our social worker writes up her 8+ page report recommending us. We also need to put together our portfolio scrapbook (doing today!) and read some adoption/parenting articles our social worker gave us. She won't approve us until she gets her binder of articles back, so that's definitely on the agenda for this week! We're also getting ready to start stripping the wallpaper in the nursery. We're going to just prime the walls and then paint it sometime after we have our baby.

Please pray for us as we continue in this process. It gets really stressful at time because there are so many uncertainties. For a planner like me, it's especially hard to not know when we'll have our baby. It's so comforting to know that God has a child picked out for us and that He is in control of our adoption. It will be hard if we are not chosen at first, but as a good friend reminded me, God has the perfect family picked out for each child, and it may not be us, and at the same time, He has the perfect child picked out for us, so would we really want a different one? It doesn't mean that it's going to be easy if that happens, but it does mean that we can rest in God's plan.

Thanks for all your prayers and support as we adopt our baby!

Job Updates

Well, I accepted the Friday night Comp. I class. I am still praying that something else opens up, but at least I have something right now. The only catch is that there are only 8 students registered for it right now. There has to be 5 to have the class, but sometimes they try to combine two sections of the class to save money. We're praying that that doesn't happen with this class. My dean didn't seem to think that it was too likely since most Friday night students are taking a weekend class because nothing else will work for them.

I also talked to my dean regarding my Writing Center hours. I had e-mailed her my request for hours right after she sent the schedule out, but she didn't get it/forgot to put me in the schedule. There is still an 11-4 time block on Thursdays, so I've requested it. I'm praying that I'll get the entire time block; that will really help us out.

This weekend I also put some books on e-bay. It's my first time selling anything there, and so far, I have bids on two of the six books. I have several more boxes of books to sell, so I am hoping that this turns out to be a good source of money!

Weekly Wrap

1. There's nothing quite like hanging out with friends to cheer you up! On Friday, Rachel and I went shopping, and as you can see, we had a good time. It was well worth the four quarters we spent!

2. On Friday night, I had my starter show as a Lia Sophia advisor, and several people were able to come. It was a small group, but we still had fun. I came up a bit short of my sales, so I am keeping my show open for an extra week to get a few more orders. (So, if you want to get some really cool jewelry, let me know!) I already have several shows scheduled for next month--I'm well on my way to getting six by the end of January. Yay!!

3. My friend Amy came up for the weekend. We had a good time just hanging out. We stayed up late, slept in, watched chick flicks, and went to Ikea. What could be better than that??

4. I only have three days of classes left. Two of those days are presentations, and the last one is a final. I stil have plenty of papers to grade, but I'm in a pretty good spot to get it done early.

5. I still haven't decided if I'm accepting the Friday night class yet. I miss teaching terribly when I take time off, but I'd still be tutoring in the Writing Center, and I love doing that. I'm really hesitant to give up my Friday nights since I'm working on getting my Lia Sophia business up and running. Friday nights are a prime time for parties. I have to let my dean know tomorrow, so I'm sure Mark and I'll be discussing it tonight.

6. I went to the doctor on Friday because I'd been coughing so badly. I've always had a chronic cough, so I don't even realize how much I cough, but it got a lot worse over Thanksgiving. I talked to my friend and she said that I probably have bad sinuses. It was an epiphany--not everyone always feels like they are choking. So I made an appointment with my doctor and asked for a referral to and ear, nose, and throat specialist.

Instead, she gave me breathing tests, and apparently, I have asthma. I can't believe it. Asthma. So now I'm on a routine of inhalers and a nasal spray. I'm having a really hard time with it, but I know that eventually it will start making a difference in how I feel. It's just hard to believe that that's been my problem. I always thought of asthma as being wheezing, not constantly coughing, but from what I've been learning, it makes sense. I still have a lot left to learn about it though. I'm going to see a specialist sometime--I'm thinking of waiting until January when our new insurance kicks in. I'm sure I'll get a lot of my questions answered then.

Conversation at Front Door

Guy at door: Is your mom home?

Me: No.

Guy: Is your dad at home?

Me: No.

Guy: Would you like to buy some candy?

Me: No.

Guy: Okay then. Have a good day.

In the background--Mark laughing.

(This used to bother me a lot more, but now I use it to my advantage! At school, though, it's a different story. Yes, I'm your professor, and you do have to listen to me!)