Top 3, Baby!

I remember waking up this morning from my flu-induced coma and calculating in my head how many days it had been since we submitted our home study on A.  And thinking that we hadn't made it to the minimum number of days we had been told to expect to wait before hearing something.

I'm feeling better.  I don't feel quite so close to my deathbed today.  I even took a shower and brushed my teeth!  TMI, I know, but it's amazing how much better a person feels after washing all those germs off.

Watching TV all day is really boring.  Which is why I'm glad I have my handy laptop so I can surf the web all day.  Which can get to be boring too.  But not when you get an email from the adoption coordinator saying, "Call me when you get a chance."

Which is what I did after I finished all the other things on my to-do list for the day.  Oh wait, I don't have one of those.  I'm sick.  And bored out of my mind.  And I really wanted to know what she needed to talk about, so I called her as soon as I read the email.  After learning I had been sick (she didn't need to ask- though I'm feeling better, I still sound like death warmed over), she told me she might have some news to really make me feel better.  D and I have been chosen as one of the final 3 families for little A!

Basically, she'll take part in a conference call next week where she'll learn more about A, ask questions about him, then tell them about us and answer any questions they might have about us.  The decision could be made that day or a few days later.  Please pray that if we are the family for A that it will be made clear to those making the decision.  And pray for peace for myself and D- that we will remember that if this is His will, if A is to join our family, that it will happen.

Aaaaaahhhh!  :)

How to get ready for swimsuit season:

1. Develop a hacking cough.
2. Begin the cough-drop-only diet.
3. Take cold medicine to help ease the cough.
4. Get awful side effects from medicine, causing you not to eat.
5. Take a nap to sleep off the medicine- wake up feeling like you've been hit by a truck.
6. Continue coughing, strengthening your stomach muscles.
7. Keep downing the cough drops.
8. Don't eat anything else- complete loss of appetite.
9. Go see Dr.
10. Answer the question, "Did you get a flu shot?" with a negative.
11. Take the week off from school. (ok, that doesn't really help out with swimsuit season)

If you can't tell, I've got the flu.  It came Sunday afternoon, went to the Dr. Monday and got started on meds.  I feel awful.  I rarely get the flu, so I guess I kinda forget how bad it makes a person feel.

The plus side: I'm at home nice and warm and not going out in the arctic temperatures.

Untitled

Accepted our first foster placement yesterday. A 5 month-old baby boy. After receiving the call, I ran around the house, talking to D on the phone, looking for my gift cards, trying to rack my brain for all the things we were going to need. Told D he was a dad. Celebrated together. Got in the car to make a Target trip before the baby arrived.

Then got a 2nd call. CPS had already given the child to another family. Turned the car around. Called D back to tell him false alarm. And called a friend who was on the way to help me make a Target trip. And my Mom to tell her she wasn't going to be a Mumsie again so soon.

And D came home. And we celebrated that a little boy had a family tonight to keep him safe and take care of him. Even if we weren't the family.

a post of firsts

• first day at school this week (I was out sick yesterday)
• first quarterly evaluation today (which we passed!)
• first time to meet our AFS- hereby known as T- love her already!
• booked our first ever airplane tickets (we've never flown.  like ever. in case you didn't understand that this was a list of firsts)
• taking my first (and probably only) trip to Key West this summer!  D's already been there since his parents were continental travelers and took 2-week vacations each summer driving all over the US.  But I haven't and I'm so excited!  It's been on my bucket list for a few years ( I know.  I know.  What 25 year-old has a bucket list already?)
• first post of the week!  Hopefully not the only one...

Hope you're having a great week!  

My Favorite Comment

Comments mean so much to me.  They not only let me know that you've visited, but that maybe something I said resonated with you, that you identified with a piece of my story, or that you had advice, comfort, encouragement to offer.  I get so excited when I get an email saying someone commented on my blog!  It's like getting that unexpected card in the mail- which I guess it kinda is, just virtual.   

Thanks to Foxy, I found out about Mel's Project where bloggers are able to post their favorite comment from the past year.  I had to think about which comment to post because so many meant so much to me.  But I finally posted this one by Mandi on my post from November.  I can't wait to "be in total awe". 

Do you have a favorite comment?  What do comments mean to you? 

Winter's Here!

Keep Calm Shop

Well, at least for the week.  Or maybe just the first few days of the week.  Then we're back to highs in the 60s.  Last night, a cold front came through that sent the temperatures plummeting and brought with it a dreary, rainy day today.

So dreary and rainy that D and I actually slept in and missed going to church.  But we made a big breakfast, ate a late lunch, and started watching a movie to earn training hours toward our foster license.  (We both have to have 30 hours each year.)

When I started making my weekly menu this afternoon, the weather seriously affected the meals for the week.  (Do you make a weekly menu?  Since I started, I've saved so much on grocery bills because I only buy what I'm going to cook.  Which has definitely helped the IVF fund!)

Monday: Comfort meatballs and baked macaroni and cheese (Both Pioneer Woman recipes!)
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (Another PW recipe)
Wednesday: Beans and cornbread
Thursday: Frozen Pizza night
Friday: Out to eat
Saturday: Chicken Fried Steak and Smashed Potatoes (the easiest mashed potatoes- courtesy PW)

Notice a trend?  Two words- comfort. food.  Yum!

Now in normal parts of the world where winter actually lasts the entire season, people are able to spread their comfort food over the course of three months.  Not in Texas!  We've got to make it and eat while the weather is cold!

What's your favorite comfort food?  I love making Puppy Chow (chocolate and peanut butter covered Chex cereal with powdered sugar all over) when the weather gets cold.  It's delicious!

A Really Dumb Mistake

So one of the things I wanted to write about in my last post is that we received a broadcast for a little boy who would be a legal risk placement.  (I didn't want to jinx our chances by writing about it since we haven't heard anything about the little one we submitted our home study for in November.  Not that I believe in jinxing things... in case D ever asks.  He loves when I knock on wood after any little predicting/boastful comment a commentator makes during a Longhorn game.)  Basically, a legal risk placement means that the parents' rights haven't been terminated yet, but the court is heading in that direction.  We would be a foster-to-adopt home.  Our adoption placement coordinator emailed us and said she'd 'handpicked' us to submit our home study and to let us know if we wanted her to do that. 


Yes!  I emailed her the same day (maybe the same hour) that she emailed us... after emailing D and letting him look at the file as well.  I also asked a few questions because there were a few things in his documentation that didn't add up.  That was Tuesday.

Today is Thursday and I haven't heard anything from the coordinator.  Granted, I know she has a busy job with lots of families asking her questions.  So I didn't think much about it.  Then tonight, I went to look at her original email again (to glimpse a picture of this precious little boy one more time) and saw what I had done.

I replied to myself.  The email I wrote Tuesday was never answered because I sent it to yours truly.   I know, I know- I'm a genius.

Thankfully, our home study isn't due until January 10th, so (hopefully!) it didn't eliminate us from the home study pool.  I resent the email to our coordinator with a little note letting her know what had happened and that we thought we had responded much earlier. 

And all this after I had expressed my frustration to D about the amount of time I spend helping a coworker use her computer.  Slice of humble pie anyone?