From the mouths of babes

I, as you may know, have lots of hair. It's naturally curly and very, very, very thick. Because of this fact it takes forever to dry, especially in the frigid months. It's nearing the time when I can think about straightening my hair since it's not very humid. (FYI: My hair + humidity+ straightened = not a pretty sight) On Friday morning I awoke and dreaded the fact of running to school with a damp head of hair so, low and behold, I decided to straighten it.

I delightfully forgot how fun it is to be around the kids the first time I straighten my hair. At least one or two will make a comment about it and, most of the time, they are humorous comments...mainly because they notice that something is different but apparently don't have the words yet to describe what they see as different. I shall delight you with their comments from Friday:

S: Did you straighten your hair?
Me: Yes, I did.
S: It looks like you got a hair cut!

A: Your hair is beautiful!

This was by far one of the funniest:

I open the door Friday morning and let the first group of families inside. E is walking in with his dad. E looks up at me and I say "Good morning E!" E stops, looks up at his dad and whispers: "That's not my teacher!"

It's the small things

I've come to realize through recent events that I am the type of person who appreciates the small things in life. Would you like to hear some examples of this? Sure, you say? Alrighty then!

Example #1: Earlier this fall I happened to find myself in Bath and Body Works in pursuit of fall-smelling room fresheners. I hit the jackpot of awesomeness my friends. Not only did I stock up on the fresheners but I also happened upon a raccoon and owl shaped scent portable! (These clip on things and go places like cars) And! Halloween themed handi-bacs on sale! When I got home I found out that some of the bottles of the handi-bacs glowed in the dark. Needless to say I spent more than I intended...but also? These things made me happy for days.

Example #2: Last weekend K and I went grocery shopping and ended up in the seasonal isle. After scouring the shelves for bargains on candy I made my way over to the more decorative side of the isle. Do you know what I found? More awesomeness, thank you very much. This time it came in the shape of muffin liners and Halloween themed bowls. The muffin liners are what got me though. They have little monsters on them and, the best part, one of the monsters is carrying a little bucket because he's going trick-or-treating. It's super cute. I realize this doesn't sound that great...perhaps I should take a picture to show at some point.

Example #3: The thought of any pumpkin spiced drink is making me smile.

So yes, my friends, if you want to make me smile remember - it's the small things!

Where do they go?!?

Do you remember when I mentioned that I'm slightly obsessive with checking the photo-listing websites for children who are in need of families? By slightly obsessive I mean that I'm checking these sites every day. And with good reason! Three (count them...1, 2, 3) times now in the past month we have come across children we are interested in and the very next day these children's profiles have been taken off-line. I don't understand. Why are their profiles up there for only one day? Are we to assume that that many people have inquired about them? In a day?

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but we are looking for up to three children. (Hmm, perhaps three is the magic number of this post). Are there really that many people looking to add three children to their family at a time?

The strangest part of this whole thing is that all three times this has happened the children's profiles have appeared on a Friday afternoon and disappeared by Saturday afternoon. I really had no idea that there are social workers out there who are working these hours. So, can you see why I might just be slightly obsessive about this search? ( I say this with a grain of salt because I'm fully aware that I've more than likely jinxed myself...the workers at our agency are searching just as diligently for our children. In the end, it will more than likely be that they are the ones who have found the children who are meant to be ours....not me ;) )

The things people say

For the most part, people with whom we have shared our plan to adopt have been very supportive and happy for us. However! There have been several comments that, while aren't mean or malicious, stick with me and make me wonder. For example, I've gotten some version of this general idea twice (from older ladies in a position of authority): "Well, what are you going to do about your job?"

To me, this is part of a much larger picture - largely dependant upon the particulars of our specific children. In general, however, are they asking if I'm still going to work? Well, yeah. I'm not going to intentionally abandon the children I'm teaching this year and just up and leave. I may take a short leave of absence when the children first arrive home and we are just getting settled as a family. Or, maybe the children will be school-age and they will need to go back to school quicker than if the children are preschool or under. Or, perhaps if the children are preschool eligible they will come to work with me and go to my school. (See what I mean? There really is no easy answer to this question. But really, it is something I have thought a lot about)

But really...the gist of what we are doing is adding children to our family. Granted it's not the traditional way but, at this time, it is our way. Perhaps I'm finding this particularly bothersome because I'm finding it really hard to believe that pregnant ladies would be asked this question in the same tone of voice. Or, maybe they are. Regardless, I'm not fond of it!

Another jewel is the sentiment: "Oh, I just love it when I hear of people adopting!" At first, this comment makes me feel all warm and snugly inside. Yes! I'm a wonderful, righteous person! But then I start to come back down to earth a cringe a wee bit because I wonder if the people who say this type of comment realize that the motivation behind our adoption is to expand our family. Because really? Isn't the message behind this comment basically that people are adopting for good and noble causes? That they are "rescuing" a child from an otherwise shitty life? For some this is the reasoning behind their adoption decision. For us, it is not.

Like I said, while there are these few things that bother me they are far outweighed by the kind, thoughtful things people say. Such as the mom of one of my former students who got (happily) teary-eyed when we told us of our news. Or the friends who know of the struggle we have had and envelop us with kind thoughts and encouragement. Or K's brother who normally is very blunt and says what's on his mind asking questions that show he has been thinking about our adoption and wants to know more. Or the co-worker who got excited and asked about what is involved with the whole process. These comments, my friends, are what I will choose to remember.

Round 2: check!

So! A lot has happened since I last wrote and I haven't updated y'all. (Can you tell it's the school year? Well, probably not since I hadn't written much this summer anyway :) ) Our home study* is finished and we are now officially 'waiting.' This is quite exciting as it now means that we are actively looking for our children. I will admit I may be a bit obsessive with this. Like checking certain websites each day looking for new children who have been added. But, really, I am okay with being a tad obsessive with this because our children are out there somewhere!

Keep us (all of us!) in your prayers!

* Did you know that more often than not when I type the word 'study' it ends up being 'stufy?' Kinda funny!

Round 1: Check

We had our first part of our home study bright and early on Sunday morning. It went very well and our worker basically asked us questions to get to know us better. Not hard really and it went a lot off of the auto biography we had already written.

(As an aside...remember when I spoke about being very wordy when I write? Yeah, totally the case with this autobiography. Our worker said that typically these first initial visits are lengthy because she has to ask a lot of questions to go further into the family's life. In my case, she said, she wouldn't need to ask a lot of questions because my autobiography was so in depth. I had a good chuckle at that!)

Then she took a tour of the house, including the newly painted upstairs (Yay!), and learned that our basement is "not livable space." Tee hee hee, ya think?!? Really, it's just a cellar. I mean I guess you could stand up in it if you so desired (I typically don't because I abhor getting cobwebs in my hair) but it's pretty small. Like, it has the basic necessities (deep freeze, furnace, hot water heater, wine...) and that's pretty much it.

Overall it went really well and now we have the task of filling out a check sheet that asks about the characteristics we "will consider" and those "we will not consider." Some of these are pretty cut and dry (will we consider a child who is a high achiever? Umm...sure!) while others will require a bit of research. One thing we have learned is that it is easier in this stage to be as open as possible since a lot of these kiddos have certain characteristics marked against them based on a one time occurrence.

From here we will continue to attend the support groups offered by the agency, fill out any remaining paper work, and then welcome our worker back in our home for another series of questions. And then? And then we get to seriously start looking at children's profiles. In other words, we are getting close to the time where we can really start thinking of the children who will be playing upstairs, laughing at Murphy's antics, and eating supper with us around our kitchen table. And that is what we have been praying and waiting for for a really, really long time.

Grand Rapids

Every once in a while K has extra trainings that he has to go to for work. This week, the training was in Grand Rapids, MI and I got to join him since I'm still on break. Exciting times! Grand Rapids has lots of fun things to do and, my goodness, the shopping! For a girl transplanted to the country after growing up relatively close to shopping plazas it was a dream come true! I spent most of Monday hopping from place to place and feeling guilty because I think I spent too much money. But, hey, I did get some new clothes for the school year.

On Tuesday K and I went to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture park. Wow! What an amazing place. It has acres and acres of walking trails and sculptures as well as an indoor green house filled with tropical plants. It also provided many opportunities for photo taking. Like 75 pictures worth.

(See, I've been on this mission to take lots of photos that will then be put together in our "welcome book" for our future children. Kinda like a book of things and people they will see when the live with us. As I gathered pictures to put in I realized that I didn't really have a lot of photos of certain things so, hence the photo-taking mission.)

And last night we went to Robinette Winery and guess what? They give you wine glasses with your tastings that have little birds on them. I probably haven't said this yet, but friends? I love birds. And? I love wine. Now I have bird wine glasses. Totally cool. (Yes, I do realize that it's the small things in life that make me happy. I'm good with that.)

Bye bye purple!

Remember how I said I was in a cleaning frenzy in my last post? Well, that cleaning frenzy was very productive and I can now say I'm almost finished painting one of the upstairs rooms (read: future playroom). The upstairs was rather frightening when we bought our house. The front room was a lovely combination of blue walls, green baseboards, and yellow around the window frame. Yikes! I think they were going with some sort of garden theme or something. I repainted that shortly after moving in and it is now a neutral shade of taupe. A lil' darker than I would like, but it works.

The second room upstairs looked something like this:

With parts like this that just make you ask "Why?!"

Not hateful, but also not quite our style. The difficult part of this whole process (well, besides the fact that I can't reach part of the wall without go-go gadget arms since the wall shares with the staircase) was choosing the right shade to paint it. We went with the same light green that is in our kitchen because we thought it could be dressed up for a boy (with blue) or a girl (with pinks) or could be boy/girl (with reds and yellows). And the best part? We had a whole gallon of the stuff in our basement.

Now the room looks better with the nice, soft shade of green. I plan to make curtains for the windows in the color schemes mentioned above once we know who we will be adding to our family! I also found some really awesome wall decals in the shape of flowers that I'm contemplating purchasing if we have a girl(s) because you can actually customize the colors of the flowers to the room decor. How cool is that?

Cleaning Frenzy

This morning we got the call we had been waiting for - we have scheduled the first leg of our home study! So excited. Squee! Along with this excitement comes an almost obsessive need to clean. I find this a bit crazy because I've been cleaning and organizing literally all summer long. And also? The home study isn't for another week and a half! So you know whatever I "clean" now will just need to be cleaned again, lol.

So today I focused on small things like, you know, beginning to paint the nastiness of the purple room upstairs. What color will it be? Heck if I know! Tee hee, but I do have a goal to put the coats of primer/hiding paint on before the end of the week. And then perhaps the color of the room will jump out at me. We have the idea that this room will be a playroom since you have to walk through it to get to the "front" upstairs room. I don't want to go with the neutral tan that is throughout the house but instead want something fun (that's not a bright purple). It's hard to go fun when you're trying to be gender neutral!

Oh, and I've also been sprucing up the deck by repainting some stuff out there. Needless to say K is going to think I've gone nuts when he gets home!

Cookies Galore!

K's brother is getting married in just about a month! This is quite exciting since there has been about three years in between marriages on K's side. His bachelor party was last night and I was asked to make cookies for the event. The thing is...they were expecting up to 100 people at the party. Yikes, that's a lot of cookies my friends!

My first batch of goodness consisted of mini muffin sized brownies with peanut butter cups smooshed inside. I also made mini brownie bites with Andes mints inside and on the top as a garnish. Just FYI: 1 family size of brownie mix makes 4 dozen mini muffins. This is good information if you need to make a lot of something! It was even better because I got the boxes of brownies for $1.00 a piece! Score!

I made some chocolate chip cookies and then some reverse chocolate chip cookies. Never heard of reverse chocolate chippers? Basically they are a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips. If you want to make them extra awesome throw some mini (regular) chocolate chips in as well. Yum.

My day was complete four and a half hours and 18 dozen cookies later. I must say they all turned out splendid!

Things I have learned

K and I are plugging away on the nuts and blots of our adoption. As of this Friday we plan to have turned in all of our paperwork and will complete the last of the required classes we have to take. This process has helped me become aware of a couple things. 1: I am, apparently, a pack rat. 2: When I write I become very wordy.

Part of my mission in this adoption journey has been to clean the upstairs. Because, you know, our kids need a place to have their rooms. I started this process last year and, well, abandoned it because I just couldn't make sense of where I was going to put everything. For a year, the upstairs was a place where we would put things that we wanted but didn't have any other place to keep. Since we don't have a workable basement for storage this is our compromise. Except, not anymore!
I picked up this project again this summer and was motivated to make it better and find homes for everything. I had piles for Goodwill, school, mom and dad, trash, and recycle. And my friends? I must say that it's looking better! Not perfect, but good enough that I gave K the go-ahead to call the fire chief to come over for the fire inspection. (Because honestly? I thought anyone but close family and friends would have a heart attack if they walked through it as it was last year!)

Oh and, yes...I am very wordy when I write. This became apparent when I wrote my autobiography that will be read by the social worker who will do our home study. In my defence, we were given a page with guidelines and talking points to include in our writing. Somehow though, my autobiography is currently 8 pages while K's is half of that. Oh, and it's all single spaced and size 11 font. Sigh...

But, happy news! Since we are getting all this initial stuff done that means we are all the closer to our home study! Yeah!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...

Gopher?

I have a story for you my friends, quiet an interesting one if I do say so myself. Before I actually start with the story I feel as though I need to give you a bit of background. First of all: it's summer. And I'm a teacher. Need I say more?

No, really I've been blessed with what, so far at least, has been a nice, relaxing summer. Sure I'm gathering paperwork for the adoption, attending a few trainings, and writing an autobiography, but really? In the scheme of things? This summer has been sooooooooo nice. And relaxing.

Most of this relaxing has to do with the fact that I have time (ahhh, time!) to read. I love to read. In fact, when I was little I would check out stacks of books at a time. And read them within a week. But, back to this summer. Last year I started taking my books outside to read. I make my cup of coffee, get my granola bar, set up my Adirondack chair under my tree, place my footstool nearby and plop down with whatever book I happen to be reading. (The fact that I'm under a tree is important! Take note.)

Now, if you know me you will realize K and I live out in the country. Surrounded by fields. Way far away from any type of forested area. And also? We don't have much in the way of trees on our property. So I take advantage of the one we have in our backyard.

Earlier this week I was reading as described above and hear a "thud" behind me. Naturally I turn around (thinking is was a cat of course) and what do I see? A gopher running away from me towards the garden! Do you know the "thud" means? The gopher had to have been SITTING IN THE TREE the whole time! Yikes! I don't know about you my friends, but that was a bit spooky. Moral of my story? Check all trees for gophers. Because you know what? They can climb.

A Turn of Events

In my head I've been keeping this blog current; writing about important life decisions, recording funny anecdotes, and just keeping up with life in general. But, as is evidenced by the date of my last post, this logging of events is decisively all in my head! Although there is a lot I could write about, I'll try to keep this post based on one topic: children. Or, more specifically, decisions we have made in regards to children.

As you know, K and I have been trying to expand our family for several years now. Last year at this time we moved to Dr. Delightful who prescribed a more "natural" way to conceive. We also had agreed that IUI and IVF procedures were not for us for both personal feelings and money issues. Quite frankly, at the end of April we were done with keeping track of temperatures, timing everything, and shooting me up with drugs. The whole process was getting old and every month brought a new heartache. And actually, a year earlier we said we would try the whole Creighton method for a year and then reevaluate everything.

These feelings led us to be more open with each other about the idea of adoption. We had been adamantly sure that this wasn't the direction for us, but with month after month filled with disappointments we began talking about it again. It turns out that we were both more open to the idea and felt perhaps that this was a path we should further explore. After doing some research and spending time in thought and prayer, we made inquiries to several agencies. We picked one of the agencies, submitted our application and began taking the necessary classes in June.

We are still deep within the initial steps on the path toward adoption and I would be lying if I said we didn't have any doubts. However, I will say that we feel called to be parents and feel this is the path God has chosen for us to expand our family. It is awesome to be able to forget about taking my temperature at 6am, forgo with the whole charting of cervical mucus, and answering "no" when dr's ask me if I'm taking any prescriptions. It is daunting to imagine that our future children are potentially living somewhere within the U.S. right now. What do they look like? What do they like to eat? Will they like living with us? Will we be good parents? How will we work through any past issues?

These questions (and more) and the topic of adoption in general are at the forefront of my thinking over the summer months. I'm using my time this summer to continue doing research, filling out all sorts of paperwork, and getting the house in order for our expanding family. (It's during times like this that I feel fortunate beyond belief to have summers off..sigh, gotta love that!)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter my friends! What a busy week it has been. As I mentioned in my last post, I made the decision to become Catholic and entered into the church yesterday. This was a decision that took me a while to come to, but one I do not regret making. When K and I got married we both stayed with the religions we were raised with. And, both being determined to make something work, went to both of our churches on most weekends. This became a lot of work and I began feeling that I felt more connected with the Catholic church we attended. This past fall, I inquired about becoming Catholic and have been taking classes since September.

What an interesting journey! I learned some things about myself and, most importantly, have felt closer to God during the journey. Yesterday was our Easter Vigil which is the time when new members are welcomed in the church. The ceremony was like nothing I had seen before and lasted for quite a long time! It was good though. This morning, K and I hosted a Easter Brunch to celebrate both Easter and my coming into the church.

Mom and Dad came to visit and yesterday Momma and I spent pretty much the whole day cooking! We made homemade blueberry muffins, fruit salad, brunch enchiladas, and egg and Hungarian sausage. It was my first time making the enchilada and, thankfully, everyone said they tasted yummy. Whew! I have found that I really like finding new recipes (All Recipes.com is my friend) and trying them...but it's tricky b/c there's typically only K and I eating! Thankfully all 14 of us this morning ate well and had a good time with each other's company.

Right now I'm staring at my Easter basket and watching The 10 Commandments...what lovely things to do on Easter! Easter isn't quite Easter without seeing either The 10 Commandments or The Sound of Music. Both of these movies were always on every Easter growing up and now it doesn't quite seem like right if I don't see one! (This is why I've kept The 10 Commandments on our DVR for, oh... a year now ;) )

Happy Easter!

Random Post, But Hey! It's a post!

April showers bring May flowers...or one can only hope! It's been raining here on and off for like the entire month of April. And the forecast? More rain. It's awesome, my phone gives me the option to look up the weather. Along with the actual forecast it gives little pictures of what the day is supposed to be like. The pictures for the next 4 days? Rain. Cars in the rain. Storm clouds and rain. Rain, rain, and more rain. I'm going to embrace it though because all that rain? Means I don't have to water the plants! Woot.

April has been a super busy month for me. For the past two weeks at school we had been working towards getting the school ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary. And last weekend one of my bestest friends had her bridal shower so K and I traveled home for that. And this weekend is an awesome combination of Easter and writing conference reports (that wasn't meant to sound sarcastic!).

Easter has a bit of a different meaning for me this year since, for the past 8 months, I have been taking classes to become a Catholic. This Holy Week marks the time when I will finally enter the church. The week is filled with preparations and visits to church and tomorrow at Easter Vigil is the culminating event. Mom and Dad are coming down to celebrate and on Easter Sunday K and I are hosting a brunch at our house.

So, I'm not real sure if there's a 'theme' to this post other than small random updates about life right now. I guess I felt it was better to get some thoughts out there than none at all!

Coming out of hibernation

Hi y'all! Long time no type! I've got no real excuse for the long hiatus except perhaps that I wasn't inspired to write? Anyway, inspiration struck a few minutes ago when I was reading over the newsletter the school passes out to parents. What could be so interesting that I needed to blog about in a school newsletter? You're asking this to yourself, I just know it. Well my friends, let me tell you a little about said newsletter. It has a section from the director, handouts and such for parents to fill out and return, and a page with the current songs for the month. It's the song page that I'm taking an interest in at the present time. Lovely songs were selected for the current delightful month of April, such as "Goin' on a Picnic," "Spring is Here," and "Golden Crocus." However! "You are my sunshine" was thrown into the mix. Quite frankly, this song has brought the sting of tears to my eyes whenever we sing it with the kiddos. Except, until tonight, I couldn't pinpoint why. And then I read the second verse to myself in the comfort of my living room. And had to throw the paper across the room because I finally realized why I had such a hard time with the song. Buckle up my dears because I'm going to type out the second verse. Ready? The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms, When I awoke dear, I was mistaken, So I hung my head and I cried. Umm hmmm, great song. Please note the sarcasm because when this is your reality month after month, year after year it really tends to hit home. Please excuse the long paragraph, blogger seems to have blended my thoughts all together.

Fortune Cookies

Yesterday we celebrated the Chinese New Year at school since we have a little girl originally from China in our class. All that talk about China got this girl in the mood for Chinese food! K and I headed to our local buffet and loaded up on General Tso Chicken, bacon wrapped crab, and pepper steak. Towards the end of our meal we received our fortune cookies.

I'm sure you're familiar with fortune cookies: they have a fortune, some lucky numbers, and sometimes, if you're lucky, Chinese words you can learn. Our fortune cookies were of the variety that had the fortune and lucky numbers (this is important information my dear friends!). When I opened my fortune imagine how delighted when I read "Your dearest wish will come true." Woot, woot!

K opened his a minute or two later and quietly read over his fortune. And then asked me to read my lucky numbers to him. Why did he want to hear my lucky numbers? Because his fortune was exactly the same as mine but with different lucky numbers. Woah there Chinese fortune cookies! What are the odds that we would get the same fortune? And that they could so obviously be pointed towards our shared dream? Sigh, only time will tell if our dearest wish will come true!

Disclaimer: I totally realize that everyone in the restaurant could have received the same wish...I just choose to believe we were the only two!

Ice, ice everywhere

So maybe you heard about the winter storm that swept across half the country? You know, the one that stranded cars in Chicago? Collapsed buildings? Caused wide-spread power outages? Yeah, that's the one.

Well my friends, we didn't get the waist high snow, we got ice. And lots of it. I didn't have school for three glorious days and didn't leave the house two out of three of those days. And not only was my school closed, but, according to one local news channel, there were over 776 closings at one time! (Not all of them school mind you)

Perhaps from the title of my blog you might have realized that we live on a hill. A windy hill at that. So we got ice, right? And we live on a hill, right? Imagine how tricky it is to walk anywhere on the property! There was literally no good way to get from the house to the barn. (And quite frankly? There still isn't unless you are lucky enough to be in a car)

On Wednesday afternoon I decided to be a good horsey parent and check on the horses since they hadn't been fed since K had left at 3:15am. I was riddled with choices how I could get from my house, down the hill, to the barn. I could a.) skate across the deck and make my way down the ice covered, hand rail-less steps (mind you, K had fallen down these already) or b.) walk through the grass down the hill. I chose the grass but stayed near the steps. And fell. Hard. On my wrist. Ouch!

Gosh darn it did that hurt! I went to the house (because who in their right mind would continue on to the barn?!?) and nearly fainted. I took it easy for the rest of the day but then on Thursday the wrist was still hurting a bit. I went to an urgent care place and they took x-rays...it doesn't look like I broke anything but I was given a brace-type thing to wear.

Let's just say I'll be ready for spring!

Monster Boots

What are monster boots you ask? Well, my friends, monster boots are those boots that everyone is wearing now...Ugg knock-offs. Seriously, I live in these things during the winter months and dread the times that I have to wear actual shoes. Why? Because they are WARM! And I really like to be warm.

The name monster boots stems from my first pair of tall, light pink boots. When I put them on my feet looked huge and, well, monster-like. My pink boots have been through a lot of snow and slush and, quite frankly, look terrible. That prompted me to purchase a new pair this winter and I now wear a pair of short, gray monster boots.

When I first started wearing them life couldn't be better. They were snugly warm, looked good, and felt great. However, I'm now noticing a correlation between my boots and slippage while walking. I first noticed this when walking on our playground at school but attributed it to the snow covered foot-high mulch on the playground. Honestly I would slip and slide around these little hills, it's kinda sad. Then, last week, during our "freezing drizzle" episode I almost had a total wipe out on our deck.

But the kicker? Yesterday on the playground. I'm minding my own business, walking to see the animal tracks the kiddos found, and whammo! Down I went. Like, total fall on my butt. And it hurt! And the kids laughed! "Oh, that was funny Mrs. W!" Yeah, I totally fell because I wanted to make you laugh.

So the lesson? Apparently my boots do not have good traction. Or, perhaps I'm just really clumsy.

Faster Than the Speed of Light

Or so it seems. What am I talking about? Why the results of the ultrasound I had done yesterday evening at 6:45. Let me back up...

When K and I met with Dr. Delightful he wanted me to get an ultrasound done at Clomid+7 (a.k.a. right before ovulation) to see if my eggs were developing properly. One of his theories was that my estrodial might be low because of poor egg production. Anyway, yesterday happened to be Clomid+7 so, therefore, to the hospital I went to get photos taken of my uterus. Awesome.

At the start of this cycle, when I realized that I would get an ultrasound done (again) without being preggers, I was quite upset. I mean really, how stinky is it for someone who really, really wants to see a little baby moving around to, instead, see emptiness? I got over this but it was still difficult to walk myself past the maternity ward. Someday...right?

Anyway, I digress. I called Dr. Delightful's office at lunch today in order to give them the heads up that I had my ultrasound done yesterday and that they should expect the results in 2-3 days. I fully didn't expect to hear from them until late this week or early next week. Dr.s offices move slower than molasses, right? Apparently not! Cathleen called this afternoon with my results!

I was told that my endometrial lining is developing we;; and that there were follicles maturing on the left side. And expect to ovulate tomorrow or Thursday. Coolness! Not only were my results super speedy, but things sound pretty good down there! Way to go body!

A New Dr. Delightful?

This week K and I attended a speech given by a doctor who has trained with the developer? founder? of NaproTechnology, which is the course of action we have taken with Dr. Delightful. Ironically, last winter we had heard that this new doctor would be moving to our area and, low and behold, here she is.

The speech itself wasn't really anything we hadn't heard before but we primarily went to meet her. Except, there were soooo many people who attended! We're talking like 50 plus. It was really quite amazing; there were young women, older women, women who had babies in attendance and women who had trouble conceiving. Seeing all these people really made it hit home that we are not in the minority of people who really want to find out what is wrong with their bodies. Don't get me wrong, I would love a quick fix to this problem. But I've learned that quick fixes aren't always a good solution.

We liked what the new doctor had to say and will more than likely transfer to her when the time is right. And by this I pretty much mean when we're due to see a doctor in person. And really the best part of all this? Dr. Delightful has said, pretty much every time I talk to him, that he is open for us to go to this new doctor because he knows she is closer and because he has a lot of respect for her training. Wow, that's awesome. It's also pretty awesome that we have these type of doctors at our fingertips who are willing to buck the system and travel to the root of the problem.

"But in our trouble God has comforted us - and this, too, to help you: to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you the strength to endure." 2 Corinthians 1: 6-7

P.S. So...remember how I was moaning and groaning about my school not closing? Well, we closed today! Hurray for snow!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

It's winter time my friends, and that means that cruddy weather is here. We've been getting our fair share this week with ice, snow, and the featured attraction tonight: wind. It's fun. No, really I do like winter weather because a.) it's pretty and b.) there's always the hope for a school delay or cancellation.

The unfortunate problem is that my school hardly ever closes. Yesterday? I drove to school on a sheet of ice. Totally awesome, let me tell you. And then? When I get to school? As if it wasn't bad enough to skate my way down the road in my car, I get salt rubbed into the wound of actually being out in that weather when I heard every single school in the area close. Except us. But that's okay.

However, the hope of a delay and cancellation always has me on pins and needles. Like right now I'm studying the delays and cancellations as they cross the t.v. screen. I realize how stupid this is because a.) if we were closed I would get a call from the director, b.) I would get a call from One Call Now, and c.) since I'm online anyway I could just check the computer for who is closed. But I'm still drawn to that stupid t.v. like a bug to a light.

So, in addition to reading the t.v for delays and cancellations, I'm also seeing all the advisories and warnings for the area. And there are a lot. So many that to save time I think there should just be a blanket advisory such as this: "The weather is crap. Stay home and curl up in a blanket." See how much faster that is to read than patiently waiting to see if your county is under a winter storm warning, winter storm advisory, and/or wind chill warning?

Trust

Throughout these past two years of TTC we have experienced many bumps in the road. This journey has challenged what I believed to be my (our) path in life while at the same time making me a stronger person. Looking back, I feel that the biggest lesson I have learned is trust in God; or, more specifically, letting go of what I planned and trusting in God's plan for my (our) life.

I have been struggling with this, and oddly enough, didn't realize how much I've been struggling. I mean, I've been praying but wondered if I was really trusting God. Prior to now I don't feel as if I was fully trusting Him. Last Friday I finally asked him to help make me want his will more than my own. And now? Now I feel a sense of peace that I didn't have before.

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

Morning Funnies

If you know me in life you will soon realize that I have quite a head of hair. Since I've been little, almost every hair dresser I've been to has commented on this phenomenon to this effect: "Wow, you sure do have thick hair!" No kidding, lol.

I am thankful that I can pretty do much whatever I want to it and it comes out fine, but this post is going to be devoted to the giggles it caused us this past week. So it's cold outside and for various reasons I straighten my hair. To do this is quite the production as it needs to dry for like 4 hours or overnight before I can straighten it. Anyway, this week I was in the middle of straightening it and used my brush to comb through a small section. Guess what? My bush broke. And this is the second time this has happened to me.

I was shocked by this, I mean really? It just snapped off where the brush joins the handle. Awesome. I now hold the brush part in my hand...it's a bit awkward. So, I want to share this with someone and tell K (as he's going to brush his teeth) that he should look at my brush. A few seconds later (I am out of the bathroom at this point) he says: "I don't see anything wrong with it."

Whaaa? Really? "How can you not see that my brush is broken? It's in two pieces...pick it up, you'll see then," I say.

At this point I walk into the bathroom and K is holding my toothbrush and staring intently at it.
Tee hee hee, oh the joys of communication! Moral of this story? There are multiple brushes in the bathroom and it's to my advantage to explicitly state which brush to which I'm referring!

A Rude Awakening

Alright my friends, I'm at a loss. For the past few weeks I've woken up with an elbow on or near my head. Apparently, K has taken to sleeping with his hands behind his head. Which causes his elbows to project outward...usually near me.

Imagine it, you're sleeping soundly and roll over. Except instead of feeling a nice soft pillow? You get jabbed in the face with a pointed elbow. Ouch, right? And so much for a sound sleep! Getting jabbed does wonders for waking me up!

The fun part? K is dead to the world when he sleeps and I can move his bent arm pretty easily. Like, I pretty much throw it back over onto his body. It provides at least a bit of humor at 4:30 in the morning.

This is a new development as he used to sleep on his side. What makes a person change sleeping positions? And, more importantly, how can we change this so I don't get jabbed anymore?

Miss Murph

Yesterday my kitty was curled up so innocently on the couch. I took the opportunity for an impromptu photo shoot because, my friends, this does not happen often. Our indoor kitty, Murphy, is a cat full of personality. I've had Murphy since the fall after graduating collage, which is actually before I met K. Murph lived with me in my apartment and then moved with me when we bought our house.

Theoretically, you would think she would like me the best, right? I mean I've only had her since she was a kitten and she's known me basically her whole life. I feed her, I clean out her kitty box, and I *sometimes* buy her toys that she doesn't play with. But, uh... she tends to favor K the most. Case in point: I'll be sitting on the couch curled up in her favorite blanket and she will be contently sitting on my lap. Literally, as soon as K comes to sit down she is off my lap and making her way over to sit on him. He can move, play around with her, tease her and she still stays with him. If he's ticked her off and she jumped off his lap, all he has to do is call her name and she's back up. Sigh.

Not only does she favor K, but she can be really nasty toward me! Every morning during the work week I eat my breakfast in the living room. When I get up to take my dishes back into the kitchen she, like clock-work, attacks my legs. (Luckily she doesn't have claws) When she's hungry who will she pester? Me. When she wants to go outside, who will she meow and bat at? Me. Sigh.

She does have her redeeming moments though, such as the time she got stuck in a plastic bag. How is this possible? I still don't know, but it was hilarious! I think the bag was stuck around her leg and she did not care for this. I would assume that most cats would stay in one place and work to get it off. Not Murph. She tore through the house (with the bag attached). Zoom...through the living room...zoom...into the bedroom...zoom...back into the living room...zoom...up on the counter...zoom...on top of the refridgerator...zoom...into the bedroom. This probably went on for five minutes before the poor bag finally flew off her leg. Hehehe...poor kitty. I must say though, K and I were laughing the whole time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! K and I rang in the new year by going to see a movie (Little Fockers) and eating at a Chinese buffet. Oh my word, I still feel full from all the popcorn and yummy food! Goodness. The restaurant has the traditional buffet items as well as raw food that you put together with your own selection of spices and take to a grill to cook. K delighted in doing the grill thing while I opted for the already cooked buffet.

After that we dropped in at his brother's house for a few mins and then headed to the bowling alley to spend the rest of the evening with K's friends. I've said it once and I'll say it again, that bowling alley has the best. pizza. eva!

So, what would a New Year's post be without some goals for the new year? Usually I don't do any 'resolutions' because I know I'll break them. LOL. But, uh, this year I guess I've made some goals:
* Blog at least twice a week
* Go out to dinner only once a week
* Find and try new recipes (This one is because, well, we have a lot of meat in the freezer!)
* Be more active (because I have two weddings later this year!)
We'll see if I stick with these goals...hopefully now that I've written about them it will keep me more accountable!