Happy Birthday Hotcakes

Yippee for T's 5th Birthay....YOU, my dear, are just what I always wanted for my whole entire life!

25 things random things you may or may not want to know about me

i am a crazed facebook junkie! my hubby thought these were funny...so here ya go...25 random things about me:
(1) I played in a kazoo marching band in a parade in Gatlinburg. It was televised. I breathed in the wax paper and started to choke, but I kept up the marching formation. (See #20)
(2)I’m allergic to everything in nature.
(3)Until I had my first child the sight of breastfeeding could make me throw up.
(4)My hubby and I met while I was scheming to woo someone else. He was supposed to help. I guess DH got the last laugh.
(5)I have a lot of things I love. A lot of things I hate. But almost never will you hear me say, “I don’t care…I don’t have an opinion.”
(6)I hate cheerleading, but ALOT of my dearest friends are ex-cheerleaders.
(7) I hate Miami, especially the airport, but I go every year because I am a great wife (and daughter-in-law).
(8) I smoked for about 4 months in high school just to prove i could do something "bad" and not get caught by my mom. Sometimes having a high IQ does not make you smart.
(9) I hate & am scared of clowns, but was in a BSU clown ministry in college. My name was Petals.
(10) I have wanted to adopt since I was 14 and if I had $100 for every time someone compared our family to Brangelina I would be able to pay to adopt another child. Literally. (That’s my fundraiser idea for next time…Brangelinathon)
(11) I have a cousin who is also my brother in law. Yes, I’ve lived in Kentucky.
(12) While pregnant with my oldest, I actually said to my hubby “I hope I love the baby like I love (my cat)”. Duh.
(13) In the love category: Epidurals. They are awesome.
(14) I have had grey hair since I was 16. I’ve heard I give a lot of grey hair too!
(15) Nancy Grace: love her! Guilty until proven innocent.
(16) I didn’t know about the OJ Simpson thing (1st time) until at least one year AFTERward. People asked if I was living under a rock. I replied, “Yes. It’s called Graceville, FL.”
(17) I know all the words to every Maroon 5 song.
(18) When Dean calls my cell phone it rings with Justin’s “Sexy Back”. Always a hit with the playgroup ladies.
(19) I have learned that autism is NOT the worst thing that can happen to your family.
(20) I’m a great boy mom because “suck it up- no whining!” has always been my philosophy. Also “laugh at every available opportunity.”
(21) The security guards at my high school thought I was a substitute teacher…I wanted to park my car in the teachers lot. Hey, it was only my whole senior year.
(22) Despite my craziness, I have 2 friends with babies named after me.
(23) I’ve always wanted to live in the Northeast…I love Fall!
(24) There is nothing sweeter to me than my hubby’s kisses, JP’s laugh, and my T’s sweet face.
(25) I am selling a house. Do you want to buy it?
I would love to hear more facts about you, friends!

Chinese New Year, College, and Guts

Happy Chinese New Year, Y'all! On the long ride to church yesterday my boys were discussing why college is the worst "grade" to be in...the reasons given were "colorful". First, college is hard. Second, after college you have to get married. JP informed T that then a girl would want to kiss him all the time..."yuck!" T added to the story that then you had to go to the hospital, where they would sew your belly back together to keep your guts from hanging out. Dean and I were laughing in the front seats, figuring out that Topher was trying to explain the trials of childbirth. There are harder ways to get a baby. My adoption dream started sometime around age 14. I wanted to adopt from China. When the doors to China closed for us a few years ago I was crushed. But just like the little boy who one day says "yuck!" to a kiss from a girl will, in a few years,be introducing us to his future wife, we too, celebrate our change in direction. We are now #7 for a baby girl from Ethiopia...and #1 for a toddler....so we continue to wait for the phone to ring (Area code 407) and feel like our guts are ripping out, but in a happy way!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Well, my man is 35. Wooohooo! Happy Birthday DH!

PF Changs and Prophesy?

Here is my tale of yesterday:: After a wonderful morning of visiting my friend Tammy and her new baby boy at the hospital (squishy cheeks and super cute!), Jeanie (our pastor's wife) and T and I headed to PF Changs for lunch. I enjoyed the "big girl" conversation and T enjoyed his usual...chocolate milk and complaining of no PB&J. After lunch we opened our fortunes. I read T his which said, "Good news of long-awaited event will arrive soon." I smiled and T announced to the waiter, "that is talking about my baby sister in Ethiopia!" I was proud of him that although his birthday is in 2 weeks, that this was the good news he was thinking about. It seems that all our hearts are in a state of advent. We are now #8 for a baby girl under 18 months and #1 for a toddler....but for now we will just enjoy the gentle reminders that God is in control and he is bringing her home to us soon!

A Merry Ethiopian Christmas & 8 Months DTE

Since Ethiopia is on the Julian calendar, today i can wish you a "Happy Christmas"! This week also marks 8 months since we sent our dossier (huge stack of documents which took almost 6 months to compile) over the atlantic ocean to Ethiopia (with a little help from our friends from FedEx). We are now aproximately #9 in line for an infant girl referral, but we are the first one in that line willing to accept an up- to-36 months-old. So, we are not sure whether to be expecting a little baby or a toddler...so the anticipation does kind of feel like Christmas!

Back to School and High Compliments

Well, thank goodness my new years resolution didn't have to last too long...the Bowmans and Luncefords received referrals for infant girls today! That makes us somewhere around #10 in the girl line for those of you keeping score. It has made our long wait seem shorter being busy with the house on the market and both boys home for the last few weeks. Today, of course, school started back after the long Christmas break. I interrupted a meeting of sorts this morning where John Peter bequeathed the remote control to T, complete with an explanation of the "mute" button, as if he were going off to war and not to a private school for Baton Rouge's finest. But, (file this under the "Just Bragging") last night I think i was paid the highest compliment of my life. We were tucking in the boys as usual and i gave JP his usual tight squeeze goodnight hug and he said, "i like your hugs, Mommy, they make me feel...like 'home'." I think I'm raising a poet.

2009-The Year of the Adoption Roller Coaster

I was born in the year of the dragon (according to my chinese friends it is a very lucky thing:) but 2009 is the year of the ox. I'm renaming it the year of the adoption roller-coaster. Sometimes i feel excited, sometimes scared, but mostly like i want to puke with not knowing what to expect, and when to expect it. The wait for referral has officially increased to 9-11 months for baby and toddler girls(from DTE-our paperwork left for ethiopia on 5-9-08). So, in a sign of solidarity (and my unofficial New Years Resolution) I will not shave my legs until Karen Bowman (DTE Feb 1) gets her referral!!! (Lucky Dean)