Taming Thanksgiving

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun for Allan and I.  We babysat for a couple so that they could go to the Temple.  It was a lot of fun to babysit with Allan.  The little boy just loved him and didn't want anything to do with me unless I was near the computer.  I really enjoyed watching Allan interact with the baby.  They had a ball together.

We went to the Taming of the Shrew at the local college.  That was a lot of fun.  The actors did a really good job.  The only thing was that they talked really quickly so some of the lines were hard to understand.  It was really funny though.  I think my favorite part was when Petruchio comes on stage in his "wedding clothes".  He is extremely pleased with himself and his clothes but he looks absolutely ridiculous.  His clothing is more suited to a court jester than a groom!  So funny!  Allan love it.  I kept looking over at him to watch his face and he was totally enthralled.  I'm so glad that I don't have to drag him to plays and concerts.  He always goes very willingly and enjoys himself a lot.

This last week we spent getting ready for Thanksgiving.  My mom and step-dad, and one of my sisters came to visit us and had Thanksgiving with us.  It was my first time cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner.  I was really nervous but it turned out great!

 

I also made my very first pie.  I made apple because it's my mom's favorite.  It turned out pretty good too!



 Allan made two delicious banana squash pies.  Sorry, I can't show you those, we already ate them.  We really enjoyed spending time with our family and showing them around our little town.  Allan got to give us a tour of the mine.  It was a ton of fun.  Here we are in all our glory!


He took us to a look out on the top of the pit and showed us some of the things he's been working on.  Then he took us to the bottom of the pit and we got out and watched the machinery for a while.  They sound like dinosaurs. 


He showed us the crusher, the processor, and the leach pad as well.  It's quite the process to get to the copper.  I really enjoyed getting to see everything that Allan is doing.  It had rained earlier in the day so the pit was really muddy.  The haul trucks kept sliding around on the roads.  Seeing these things that are as big as a house sliding almost sideways down the road was pretty cool.  We wanted to see one do a full cookie, but no such luck.

The biggest news though is that we had our home-study!  It went really well.  It was mostly a long interview.  We were interviewed together first and then separately.  And I am happy to say that we passed, just in case anyone was worried.  Now we are just waiting to be certified.  It should happen by the end of the year for sure.  We are taking pictures (today actually) for our pass-along cards so that we can start distributing them by Christmas.  Woohoo!  Adoption here we come!

Another Day in Paradise

We went to the Dentist this week to get my cavity filled.  Last time they told us that I only had 1 cavity and a filling that needed to be replaced and that there were a couple of spots they wanted to watch.  You can imagine my surprise when the Dentist walked in and said he would be fixing two cavities and replacing a filling.  Then he said that I had 3 more cavities and another filling that need to be done!  I thought "Did I come in with the same mouth as last time?!"  I officially have a cavity for every year that Allan didn't go to the Dentist.  That's better than the 7 I would have for the years I didn't go.  But, don't be surprised if you leave the dentist with more cavities than when you came.  The moral of the story is: "watching" becomes "filling" in the blink of an eye.

We are done baby proofing our house!  Another check off of the adoption list.  We haven't quite gotten used to the latches though and we're constantly yanking on the cupboards.  I'm surprised none of them have broken off yet.  We had to do a little bit of rearranging in our house but not too much, and we have plenty of space for a baby and all the toys that inevitably come with babies so bring them on!  We're ready.  Our landlord finally came and fixed some things in our apartment that have been broken since we moved in 6 months ago.  He and his wife adopted so he has a soft spot for adoptive couples.  When he found out we needed stuff done for our home-study he finally came and fixed everything.

Allan and I were tested for allergies this week.  Neither of us had been tested before so we had no idea what to expect.  We definitely didn't expect to be poked 104 times each!  The doctors poked us on the back first but that didn't really show anything so then they tested us again on our arms.  That test hurt quite a bit and both of us ended up with blood running  down our arms.  We found out that I am allergic to at least one thing in the environment in every month except December (when nearly everything is dead anyway).  We were hoping that we would find out something that would help Allan's headaches go away completely but he is only mildly allergic to one thing that is around for 2 months out of the year.  It's ironic that I usually only have mild symptoms showing that something is wrong and the doctors can always find plenty wrong with me, but poor Allan has horrible symptoms and the doctors always tell him there isn't really anything wrong with him.  Go figure. 

Allan took me to a Jane Austen time period dance this weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  We were expecting it to be ballroom dance so we were very surprised when we walked in to find people in renaissance costumes!  We felt a little out of place in our jeans and shirts.  We had a lot of fun though and recognized some of the dances from Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

During our Sunbeam class today, a little boy needed to go to the bathroom, so Allan took him out.  The last time that particular little boy needed to go to the bathroom, Allan just handed him off to the Primary President and went back to help me with some rowdy kids.  This time, the little boy anxiously looked up at Allan and asked, "Will you take me to the bathroom this time?"  That was already the plan, so off they went.  As they walked by the ladies' bathroom, the boy started pulling Allan towards it saying, "This one! This one!" Needless to say, Allan wasn't going in there.  It took some explaining that while he goes in that bathroom with his mom, they were going to a different bathroom today.  The people sitting in the hallway got a good laugh.  The Nursery children that are turning 3 came in to sharing time this week to try and get used to where they will be next year.  When they came in, the Primary President asked all of the primary children to be extra reverent so the Nursery kids would know how they should act.  Half way through singing time our kids were head banging, twirling, sprawling out on chairs and making loud noises.  Basically doing everything except being reverent.  I looked over at the Nursery kids and they were all sitting calmly in their seats.  Three of them were watching our class with looks of horror on their faces.  I can only imagine what they were thinking.  We feel that this is really preparing us for parenthood.  We try really hard every week to help the children be reverent but sometimes they just don't respond.  We still love them though.  In fact, I think we love them more because of it.  Last week week they were little angels.  We only had a couple of "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" moments.  For example, in our class we sang the song, "Book of Mormon Stories."  At the end of the song, one of our little boys said in the deepest voice he could muster, "That's a MAN song."  So in case you weren't quite sure, now you know that "Book of Mormon Stories" is a man song.  Women beware.:)  Between stories like this and the usual three-year old antics, Primary is a very entertaining time for us.

A note from Allan

Kami wants me to write about the adoption conference from my perspective. I am glad that she does because our learning experiences were somewhat different. There was an adoption panel just for men that sounded kinda goofy to me, but the Spirit told me to go, so I went while Kami went to a different class. It's tough to split us up when we could be together, so I must've been feeling strongly about it.:) Since our first adoption orientation with our caseworker, it seems that all we have heard about is open adoptions and how open of a relationship we are comfortable having with a birthmother. This was a new idea for me that seemed strange, and that I was struggling with. The men on the panel were all big fans of open adoption, with two of them having extremely open relationships with their children's' birthmothers, so I asked them some questions. One of the two men with very open adoptions said that he was very opposed to an open adoption when he started the adoption process. He said though that when you see how much love a birthmother has for her child, you will want an open adoption. The other men also were able to say a lot of other things that has helped my heart to accept the idea of an open adoption.
The conference was a great experience that helped us learn a lot about adoption and that prepared our hearts for adoption. We learned a lot about special needs adoption and foster care and are opening our hearts to those two experiences as well. The biggest truth that I learned from the conference is that Heavenly Father is extremely involved in adoption as He supports and guides the birthmothers and the adoptive parents. He loves His children very much and works very hard to take care of them.

FSA Conference

This week we went on a mini vacation to a near by city so that Allan could take a class on computer software for his job. We had so much fun. The company put us up in a Marriott and that was absolutely fabulous. While Allan was in class I went shopping for some Christmas presents. J.C. Penney sent out some coupons so I went there first and found success! The things I bought totaled about $150.00 but I only spent $15.00, saving $139.00 total! Thank goodness for coupons and clearance racks.

We had a lot of fun playing mini golf the first night there. Allan and I don't keep score, instead we like to see how many different ways we can create to hit the golf ball. We like to hit it as if we're playing pool, spinning in a circle, closing our eyes, backwards, and left-handed. We also like to race to see who can get it into the hole first, blocking each other along the way. It was a lot of fun. We forgot our camera that night though so there's no pictures. Sorry.

The next evening we went to a mini museum. It it incredible how small people can make things and still be so intricate. They had three different rooms but the fantasy room was my favorite. I loved all of the little fairies and the music boxes. Allan didn't really have a favorite room but he really enjoyed learning about how the silversmiths created their tiny worlds, and the tiny castles. Here are a couple of pictures.


We ate at Applebees, Cheesecake Factory, and Texas Roadhouse on the company. Woohoo. I haven't been that full in a while and Allan and I both agreed we need to go on a diet until Thanksgiving. But, I just want to say that I love cheesecake especially when there is also chocolate involved.

We also attended our first Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) Conference. The company wasn't paying for that so we stayed at a really cheap hotel, and boy was it a disappointment after the Marriott. It looked like a dorm room, the sink had obviously been broken off of the wall once before and was currently hanging on for dear life. I was a little worried that it might fall off while I was washing my hands or something. The bed and pillows left something to be desired as well. But it was only for one night so we survived.

We really enjoyed the conference. We attended several classes that were really helpful in explaining what to expect. I really enjoyed the birth mothers panel. It really puts a new perspective on adoption when you hear what they go through in placing their babies. I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out month after month and then to loose the hopes and dreams of ever having a baby, and what it is like to grieve for the children you were never able to have. But, I don't know what if feels like to know that you have a baby on the way and you won't have the opportunity to raise it. To know that someone else will be bringing the baby home with them. I really appreciated the openness of the women on the panel in explaining the heartache that they experienced. They also talked about that even though it was heart-wrenching, they knew that what they were doing was the right thing for their babies. They each talked about how much peace they felt when they finally made the decision to place their child with an adoptive family. I am very grateful for their courage and self-sacrifice, and for the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for all of us to go through trials that we don't have the strength to face on our own.