A Crib Full of Emotion

We set up our crib last night.  It was a lot of fun.  It's something we have been looking forward to doing for years but never had a reason to do it.  It's nice to finally have a reason.

 But, I do have to admit that I have mixed feelings.  It's really hard to go down the hall and see an empty crib knowing that in reality it could be years before there is a child in it.  At the same time it could be just a day away.  When I look at the crib I get a depressed feeling and a very happy feeling of anticipation and then I just don't really know whether to smile or shut the door before I start to cry.  Who knew a crib could cause so much confusion.

On the bright side we have both felt the Lord telling us we won't have to wait too long.  Here's hoping that the Lord's idea of long fits my own, and that if not Allan and I can have the patience to endure it.

Adoption here we come!

We are officially certified to adopt!

Go check out our adoption profile at www.itsaboutlove.org and search for our first names: Allan and Kami!

Well, I forgot about the blog again last week, so I have a couple of weeks to write about.  I am sure you are all sooo excited. :)  For FHE last week Allan and I pulled out the model I bought him when we got married.  Allan really enjoys building models and we planned on building this model together, but since we were married we haven't had any time to do so.  We were thrilled to finally get to start on it.

 
Models come in different levels of difficulty.  When I bought this I didn't know that, nor did I know what level Allan was on.  He has never built a model this difficult before, and I have simply never built one, so it will be a fun challenge for both of us.

We had Allan's boss, Z, over for dinner on last Wednesday.  I have heard a lot about him and was very excited to finally put a face to the man.  We had a really nice evening.  Z loves to look at his genealogy so we showed him new.familysearch.org and PAF.

Last Saturday we went to the mountain in search of snow.  We thought we found some at one point and prepared to have a snowball fight, make snow angels, and all of the other fun snow things to do.  But when we got to the snow we found it had melted enough that it was mostly ice.  We were able to get a couple of really hard snowballs to throw at each other and then decided to hike in search of more snow, but didn't find any.  We drove back down the mountain and stopped at another trail head that looked like it had some snow.  After hiking for a while we found it!  Woohoo!  Most of it had turned to ice as well but there was a small area close to the trees that was just right.  So, we proceeded to nail each other with snow balls as fast as we could.  I'm pretty sure Allan won, but I did nail him right in the bottom a few times!  (HeeHee)

On Saturday night there was a huge wind storm here.  We listened to the wind howl all night long.  When we went to church the next morning there were tumble weeds covering the entire fence line!  It was so funny looking!  It looked as if the tumble weeds had tried to attack the football field and then all got stuck on the fence instead.  It took the clean up crew half of the day on Monday to get them all off.  Here is a view from our house.

I started babysitting for a family in our ward.  I had their little girl in Sunbeams and now I am watching her and her younger brother on Mondays.  I had a blast on Monday with them.  The little boy, L, usually takes a 2-3 hour nap around the time that I babysit but he was way too excited on Monday to sleep.  He only got about 45 min. and by the time I left his eyes were all red and glassy he was so tired.  Hopefully he took a late nap.  I always feel successful when the kids are sad that their parents came back so soon!  I am looking forward to tomorrow - it should be a fun day.

We watched some of Allan's families home videos for FHE.  It was so much fun to see Allan as a little boy.  Thanks to our awesome brother and sister-in-law for getting the home videos to everyone!

On Friday we went to dinner and bowling with some friends.  It was a ton of fun.  I had my very first steak.  It's definitely not my favorite, but it wasn't too bad.  Allan and I haven't been bowling for a long time.  We usually bowl like we mini golf - in as many different ways as we can.  However, we tried to play correctly this time.  The friends we were with are really good.  The first game they both went up there and bowled a strike.  Allan followed suit and got a strike as well.  Then, I went up and promptly sent my ball into the gutter.  Naturally, I had to take a bow.  Allan did pretty well the first game and I basically never got out of the gutter.  But, the second game we switched places and Allan spent some time in the gutter.  That's how we do things.  Whether it's illness, awards, or bowling we just have to share everything.

Saturday we went shopping to celebrate our adoption certification.  I always love to go and get new clothes.  I got a new coat (I've needed one for a while, the buttons fell off of the old one and they aren't the kind you can sew back on), a skirt, and a shirt, and we got Allan some work gloves that he needed.  We're hoping to get him a small BBQ as well. That will be a lot of fun.

This last week I made a bunch of paper bag animal puppets for primary (got the idea from www.thecrazychorister.blogspot.com).  Each puppet had a way to sing a song or a "favorite" song to sing and would also lead the music.  The kids LOVED it.  I was so glad because I was a little worried that they would think paper bag puppets were lame.

They sang their little hearts out and really enjoyed playing pretend.  I asked the kids when I was done if my "friends" could come back again and one little boy in the 7 year old class said very adamantly ... "No."  Naturally he was the one that was the most involved during the class time.  Next week ... my favorite superhero "Captain Right" - but I usually call him Mr. Right. :)  (This idea is also from the crazy chorister.)

We're back!

Last week I completely forgot that I had a blog.  I don't know where my mind went.  But, to catch up a little, last week went really well.  I survived my 2nd Sunday as Jr. Primary Chorister - with all of the kids there this time!  I introduced using instruments to learn the rhythm of the song, and they absolutely loved it.   This week was a bust though.  They weren't really in the mood to sing, so the teachers and I sung our hearts out while they listened.  Hopefully next week will go better.  I substituted for the Sr. Primary Chorister today, and that was a lot of fun.  I let them use the instruments, and they were big fans.  I do have to say though that I am glad I have the little kids.  They don't worry about being "cool" so they are usually easier to teach and entertain.

Our wheat grinder arrived!  I ground wheat and made bread this week, and it was so good that Allan and I ate almost an entire loaf in one afternoon.  My Mother-in-law makes bread too, and hers always tasted so good, I could never figure out how she made it taste that way.  I was so excited when I tried it and it tasted just like hers.  I guess that the fresh ground wheat must be the key ingredient.  Allan is really enjoying it and has told me at least three times every day how good he thinks it is.  I'm glad the wheat bread has gone over so well.  (Allan: Me too. It tastes wonderful!)

Allan has been busy this week helping a friend.  The friend and his wife recently moved to another state and he was trying to get their rental properties ready to rent so that he could go and join his wife who is expecting their first child.  We thought it was a good cause so Allan went over there almost every night this week to help.  He dug some trenches and put in some cement forms for some concrete the friend poured on Friday.  He was pretty sore from the work, but he really enjoyed it.

We have been buying things here and there to prepare for a baby.  A few months ago we bought a crib and changing table, and this month we bought the mattress, changing table pad, and sheets.  We're slowly accumulating baby things in the hopes that when we do finally receive a baby we won't be caught too off guard.  We've had a lot of fun getting baby stuff, and the Walmart free site-to-store shipping has come in really handy.  It's too bad we can't just get a baby there too...although you never know...

I've also been preparing for a baby by researching adoptive breastfeeding.  I didn't think it was possible but apparently it is.  It's amazing what the human body and the medical profession can do.  Maybe I won't have to miss out on as many baby things as I thought.

One of our brothers got us some really good movies for Christmas that we have been enjoying.  I don't know how he knew that A Little Princess is one of my favorite movies ever; I think he was inspired. 

That's about it for us though.  It's been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks which has been nice after the holiday frenzy.  Thanks for everyone's prayers and support.  We love you!

The Christmas Season

The last couple of weeks have been a blast for Allan and I.  We officially finished our adoption profile and are now waiting to be certified.  It should be any day now.  It is a relief to be done with the profile.  It's amazing how difficult it can be to just choose a few pictures.  Knowing that there will be birth families out there that will look at our profile...or not...just by the picture, is very intimidating.  But ... we're done.  (Huge sigh of relief)  We have begun to hand out pass-along cards as well...but just know, if you have one our profile isn't online yet.  We'll let everyone know when it is.

For Christmas we took a trip up to Utah to see Allan's family (and got to see half of mine as well!).  We really had a lot of fun with everyone, and everyone was actually there.  It started out a bit rough - Allan got food poisoning from the food he ate at the airport, and I came down with Allan's cold two days before we left - but by the third day we were feeling well again and had some good family time.  We really enjoyed playing with our nieces, playing the Wii's Just Dance and a bunch of other games with our siblings, and eating all of the yummy food Allan's Mom made.  Allan got to play basketball with all 6 of his brothers and his Dad.  It's pretty rare that all of them are available at once so that was a really special treat, and Allan was so thrilled.  We even got a tiny bit of baby time with the newest nephew in the family, after the cold went away.

We had a lot of fun with my family as well, eating more yummy food and playing the traditional game of Canasta - in which I thoroughly kicked everyone's trash!  (I really did too!)  One of our nephews bought for Allan and I this year and we loved his gift!  My sister made a cute bag and our nephew (who is 5) filled it with ... feather boa's and parachute army men!  BEST GIFT EVER!  His mom told us that she asked him what he wanted to get us, and he said very firmly, "Boas".  She tried several times to suggest something else for us, but he wasn't having any of it.  As soon as they got to the store he went right over to the feather boas and picked out one for me and one for Allan.  Then he went and got the army men so that it would be a bit more manly for Allan.  He also drew us a picture of a Christmas tree and some boa constrictors to go with our boas.  Here we are in our awesome boas.  Don't we look fabulous!

 Allan and I wanted to get a wheat grinder, so for Christmas all of our parents donated money to the cause.:)  Our WonderMill will be here any day now!  Woohoo!  I make all of our bread, and I am so excited to have fresh wheat flour! 

Since we got home I survived my first Sunday as Jr. Primary Chorister.  It went pretty well, but only about half of the kids were there, so we'll see how next week goes.  I also still had a froggy voice left over from my cold, so singing was a little interesting.  Every time my voice would "croak" a few certain kids would look at me with this look of concerned amazement.  Hopefully my voice will be back to normal next week, or I might scar them for life.  I just have to say that I am so grateful for Sugardoodle.net; that website (and all of the wonderful people who post on it) is a lifesaver!

Hope all your Christmas's were just as merry and that you have a great New Year!