Just Stroll-ing Along . . .

we had a lovely christmas with family & friends.


and now we're back to work.

i wasn't planning on posting again, but you have to check out millymollymandy @ etsy. the designs are simple & gorgeous. i just had to buy two pieces that are unbelievably adorable. i got a different version of "lola & cat" and "gentleness" in green. too late for christmas, but maybe a little birthday or just-because something for the sweet person in your life! check out the site.

I'm leaving at 12 today and won't be back until Wednesday.


Wishing everyone love, hope & a blessed Christmas.


xoxoxox

I still have plenty of baking & cooking to do - and plenty of making my lists and checking them three, four times. I have a few of these to make, maybe for some sweet little people in my life. I have all of my wrapping to do & shopping for last-minute gifts. Thankfully, Brian's work schedule has changed & he will be home most nights to help, but unfortunately, he has to work Christmas Eve :o(


Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke have been weighing heavily on my heart & mind. I pray for their families - for strength, for peace. Kelly is the brother-in-law of Carolyn Custis James, an intelligent and brave woman whom I admire. Carolyn is updating new information on their site: mthoodclimbers.blogspot.com (Thanks to Mindy for the link!) Do pray for their families.


I'm on Metformin again, although thankfully it is the extended release type. My doctor really believes it will help me, so I'm taking it at night, with milk, and I haven't felt sick yet. I've been a bit lightheaded, but I think not from the medicine. I think it's from not wearing glasses - Zane ate mine, which I think I mentioned. It's hard adjusting back to squinting at everything & having to stare at a computer screen all day without them.

Hopefully we will have an adoption update sometime early January. That's my Christmas wish :o)

Last night, Brian's little brother Christopher, and our friends Kelly and Francie all graduated from Owens. Chris got dual degrees in Computer Electronics & Electrical Engineering, and Kel & Francie both received their RN degrees. They have all worked so, so hard and we're proud of them! Afterwards, we went to Mancy's with Fred, Vicki & Chris to celebrate. After we left them, we went down to Fricker's to meet Kelly, Craig & Francie - we got there pretty late and most of their group had left, so we just gabbed for a while and made plans for this weekend.

This weekend!! Gosh we will be busy. Tonight we have a surprise party to go to and tomorrow - - I have a few gifts to finish up in the morning, and I'm going to make some cupcakes while Brian cleans (he took the WHOLE weekend off!) & then KD is coming down! We're all going to see the lights at the Zoo with Kelly, Craig, Dean, Dawn & our niece Brittany. (Kelly & Dawn are Brian's ex-sisters-in-law; Brian stills considers them family and, well, so do I! We especially love Britty :o) Then we're going to dinner & back to our place for cupcakes and delicious, mouth-watering fruit pizza. I think Sunday we're just going to hang out & watch Christmas-y movies and maybe start on a few more gifts.

Unfortunately Michael W. Smith just came on the radio so I need to go bash the stereo into bits ... or turn it off.

last night we had our final homestudy session for to be approved by children's services. the last things laura needs are our physical & tb test results which we'll be able to give her next week. she was over for almost 2 hours and we went over a lot of things. some fears i have, concerns we have for the children. everything is on a "need-to-know" basis, but suffice it to say that all of the children we've expressed interest in need lots of love & prayer. the next step is for laura to take our file to matching meetings, where she would present us as potential parents to specific children. at this point, we're interested in 1 single child and 2 different groups of siblings. laura feels that it would be best for her to present us at meetings for all of them, because obviously we are not the only ones taking an interest in these children and it's very possible that we would not be the 1st match. if it turns out that we are not matches for any of them, then what we will most likely do is be on a list for fostering legal risk children, that is, children that will most likely be taken into permanent custody by lccs - in which case there is a higher chance of us being able to adopt them down the road & not necessarily having to give them back.

we are learning & praying every day.

speaking of kids, we received a photo yesterday in the mail of my sister's five kids. i am looking at it right now and missing them. a shout-out to the most irish-ly named kids in the south. :o)

just an fyi to those of you who receive christmas gifts from us: because of all the added expenses we've had, we are in a major financial situation and will not be able to do traditional gifts this year. we will be giving handmade gifts & buying as little as possible. i know no-one expects anything at all, but we still want to give, and this is the way we can. :o)

i found out yesterday that my friend's fiance, who was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks ago, is quite possibly in remission already. praise the Lord!

just one more thing: i had quite the anne of green gables moment on sunday morn, when i walked into the kitchen & realized i had left some unused frosting in my mixing bowl. i pulled it out from the back of the counter, picked up the spatula and saw the dead mouse lying in the bowl. i actually think i suffered a small stroke, i don't really remember what happened after that, except the smells of bleach & my hubby telling me all was well.

pray for these guys too - i just received a call about them.


i think my heart skipped more than a few beats when i saw tyler's face.

today i am feeling emotional & very overwhelmed. i can't even describe it. pray for me, pray for hubby. pray for the little girls that we want so, so badly.

tonight i am putting up the crib & tomorrow night we're picking up the beds & mattresses we ordered on sunday. everything seems to be coming together nicely, with help from family & friends. we're becoming more & more excited, but there's only one thing bothering me and that is having an empty crib in our home. we are convinced that we will not get a baby to adopt - which is fine - but i will feel sad having to stare at that empty crib. we have to have a crib to be certified for infants, so that means if we ever want a baby, we have to have the crib now, and not later. i suppose it's okay - i just think i will not be spending too much time in that room :o)

brian's work party was saturday night & we had SO MUCH FUN. we really did. open bar + lots of dancing = fun for all. we both cleaned a house earlier that day, so we were tired, but we had fun. i did end up finding a nice outfit on friday night at the mall - i bought black pants & a cropped black velvet jacket and a black silk cami with silver & black beading. lots of black, but i jazzed it up with red beaded earrings & a silver clutch. bri wore his black suit with a silver shirt & a very fancy tie he picked out. he's the handsomest guy ever. : wistful sigh:

monday we put up our tree, with our pretty new ornaments. we were going to get a real tree this year, but with mr. darcy being a kitten & his brothers (halle and serena are BOYS, teehee) coming to visit, we thought maybe we'd stick with our old fake tree this year. as it is, darcy has eaten 3 (glass) ornaments and thinks his play area is under the tree, on the tree skirt. we've one of the new tord boontje garlands (love love love) up on the mantle, and i have one left that i'm not sure where to hang. we also have our red mirrored garlands up on the windows, and the pine garland (lots of garlands at our house) on the staircase. we bought lights for the porch, but decided not to put them up - brian says it's too cold to be hanging around outside putting up lights and i'm certainly not going to do it! so we're lightless outside for this year.

we still have ALL, and i mean ALL, of our christmas shopping to do and our nights are filling up fast (we also have a cash flow problem with all of the expenses that go along with our adoption readiness) and next week will be a total blur for us as we seriously have things scheduled for every single night. hopefully i'll be able to get some things done this weekend.

... back to work i go.

i think i'm over the worst of my sickness - hopefully. it's been a rough week! coughing all thru the night + pouncing kitty = not much sleep.
brian & i are going on a date tonight - some shopping, some dinner. i have to get something to wear to dillin's christmas cocktail party tomorrow night. i am running out of clothes & i don't even have any heels left. yes, i think this will be a big shopping trip tonight.


happy weekend, friends!