FAIL

Chad and I thought we would have some good news to share very soon but unfortunately, we don't.  We recently learned that the woman who had selected us to parent her baby boy decided to parent.  We thought our dreams were finally going to come true and we were thrilled.  Although it was sad for us, I'm all for birth parents parenting if that's what they feel is the best decision. I really hope everything works out for her. Adoption is not definetely not for the faint of heart.  As for us, we hope to be matched again soon!

Unfortunately failed matches are part of the process of adoption. It is very common, and our failed match could have been much worse. I've heard about  failed matches just days before the baby was due or even after the baby was born.  Luckily, that was not the case in our situtation.  

We found out last week that things were going south on the adoption front.  On Friday night after work, I skipped the gym and brought home a Papa Murphy's pizza and we hunkered in all night catching up on our shows, eating pizza and Halloween candy.  I may or may not have had to go buy some more candy.  

I've heard several times that we'll get pregnant after we adopt (BTW-  I absolustely hate hearing that), but maybe the same can be said for a failed match-we'll get matched again very soon!  We can only hope!!   

2012 Line Patrol Ride

In early September, Chad and I went to the South Dakota Statewide Association's Line Patrol Ride.  Last year we went and we had a blast so we decided to go again.  We met up with my boss and another co-worker for breakfast and made it to Wall by mid afternoon.  The ride was on Sat. and it was thru the Badlands in South Dakota.  It was very beautiful and very different than the North Dakota Badlands.  On Sat. was the auction and we came home with an IPOD shuffle, a leather Harley vest and a quilt!   On Sunday night we stayed in Deadwood and on Monday, we stayed in Medora at the Roughrider to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.  We had a great dinner at the Roughrider.  We had a great trip and here are a few pictures from the trip. 

CUBA

On September 12, I went on a vacation to Cuba for 1 week with my aunt Mary Joy. It's only been about a year since Americans could travel to Cuba legally since President Obama lifted some of the embargo restructions. We choose Cuba because I thought I wanted to get there while we are allowed to because that amy change in the future.  Americans can only travel to Cuba on what they call "people to people" exchanges. So, that means that the trips need to focus on interactions with the Cubans and less on touristy stuff. We went with Grand Circle Foundation, an arm of Overseas Adventure Travel, a company devoted to travel that stays close to the people and the nature of the country. Here's the link to the trip:  http://www.grandcirclefoundation.org/cuba/9day-itinerary-cuba-havana-and-viales-valley.aspx

We spent time with people including dancers, artists, school children, seniors at senior centers, families, lecturers on various topics (history of Cuba, daily life, rationing, housing, changes over the years, baseball). We also had meals with residents including fisherman, one of whom said he had fought at the Bay of Pigs when he was 18 years old. We stayed in Havana for the first 2 days at the Hotel Nacional, the “grande dame” of Havana (http://www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com/en/home.asp. We then went to the country for 3 days where we stayed at the Hotel Noka, the hotel for Las Terrazas, (http://www.hotelmoka-lasterrazas.com/.) We returned to the Hotel Nacional for the last few days. Fortunately, the hotels and the bus were air conditioned. It is extremely hot at this time of year!!

Cuba is a communist country. Everything is controlled by the government: the hotels, the restaurants, the tobacco farms etc. Food is rationed and people live in multigenerational residences, some of which areVERY small. Only recently can people sell and buy their own homes----previously the State controlled all of those transactions. Milk is available only to children up to 7 years of age. People earn, on average, $20 per month. Most people have more than one job. There is a very active black market. Many people have relatives in the United States who send money to them. The fisherman I had lunch with says he receives about $200 a year from his son, who lives in Miami. He said if he didn't have that money, he would not be able to make it.

Understandably, the Cuban people are very creative. Cars are an example: there are many, many American cars from the late 1950s. They have been carefully maintained; most of the parts are no longer American due to the trade embargo by America since 1960. The embargo was a reaction to the nationalization of American property in Cuba and later, to the influence of Soviet Russia in Cuba.

The Cuban people we met were cheerful, and very hospitable. It seemed they still partially believe in the Revolution but are hoping that restrictions on trade with the United States will be lifted or softened further. Fidel was president for 50 years but has been absent from the public scene since 2008 when his brother Raul was made president. There are no statutes to Fidel and it appears that he is not a feature of daily life anymore.

Cuba has many cultural pluses. The medical care is excellent: there is a doctor for every 137 people and there are clinics everywhere including in the rural areas. There is universal literacy and education including university is free. The people occupying the highest status in the country are artists. This includes ballet dancers, musicians, visual artists, sculptors and other artists. They receive more pay than others, have better housing, and travel internationally. Athletes are also highly regarded. Cubans won 12 gold medals in the Olympics in London. The music of Cuba iswonderful! It is based on African drums and rhythms, Spanish music and jazz from the United States. At most restaurants, musical groups appeared, played beautifully and then had CDs to sell---Mary Joy bought several! We also went to a performance at Beauna Vista Social Club which was really fun. And of course, it is a very beautiful country.

Some other interesting facts: the birth rate is dropping and so pregnant women from the country side are encouraged to come to special maternity hospitals in the cities if their pregnancies are problematic. Hemingway had a home south of Havana and we visited it. It was lovely, a home originally built by the Spanish on a hilltop with a view of Havana.

I did enjoy the food but it was a lot of beans and rice!!  Fortuntely, I do like them and they definetely fill you up.  When we were at Hotel Moka, there was more fresh fruit and vegetables.  The avocados we say were the size of watermelons and tasted so good.  They only have 2 kids of beer in Cuba-light and dark.  I did drink a lot of pina colodos and mojoitos. 

We could bring home only art and CDs. Our government doesn’t allow us to bring in anything else including cigars or rum both of which Cuba is famous for. As a surprise to the participants of the trip, our guide arranged for us to be taken to the airport in convertibles that were from the 1950s. It was great fun.

Fortunately, our guide for the trip (Leo) was also young like me and he took me out on the town several nights and we had a lot of fun.  Cubans of all ages love to play dominoes so there were many young people playing at the bars we went to.  The Cubans are also fabulous dancers so it was fun to watch them salsa dance!! 

Backyard

This little guys wakes us up every morning.  For some reason, he likes to hang out on top of our compost pile.  It's the highest point in our yard so I think he likes to check this out!  

Warrior Dash

The weekend after my birthday, Chad and four friends of mine, headed to Minneapolis for some shopping and to do the Warrior Dash.  We had such a great time at the Warrior Dash although it was much harder that last year:
http://www.warriordash.com/

I also got a new purse for my birthday at the Coach outlet store!  It is very cute!! 

The best part of the trip was eating at Chino Latino in Uptown.  It was fabulous!! 
http://www.chinolatino.com/

Adoption Blogs

I really enjoy reading adoption blogs.  It's intresting to see what others have gone thru and what their adoptions are like!  My favorite ones are:

http://willandadrifindbabies.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-01T17%3A28%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20

http://amwalk21.blogspot.com/

http://kazamy.blogspot.com/

Franklin

I just had to take a picture of this. Frank and Beans are kinna weird in that they don't really like any dog toys. I've tried to buy so many different types of toys but they never seem interested in them. Well, Frank does love towels and clothes! This is a little towel that the YMCA has to wipe sweat off your face. It's definetely Frank's new favorite toy!!

Baby Stuff!

Since I've had some time on my hands, I've been doing some projects to finish off the nursery. I found this idea for a book sling on pinterest and just loved it. A friend of mine and former co-worker is a great seamstress so I had her sew this book sling for me. I picked out the fabirc and think it's just adorable! I can't wait until I have the opportunity to start reading to our little one.

AND THEY'RE OFF

After work today, Chad and his friend Jim took off for a four day motorcyle trip. They're headed to Devil's Lake tonight and then into Minnesota story. Chad's pretty excited to go on his first long ride of the summer! While he's gone, I plan to finish painting our entryway before the built in cabinets get done within the next week or so!!

us!

As a surpise to Chad, I had a woman (whom I found on Etsy) make this picture for us. We have gotten a lot of compliments on it. I think it is so cute! There's a funny story behind the image. When we got professional pictures taken back in December, I had picked up a shirt for Chad from the Thrift Store. It was brand new from Target and it still had tags on it. Well, after picking it up at the dry cleaners, I took it straight to the photography studio for him to put it on there since he was meeting me there. Well, turns out the shirt was in little boy sizes not means sizes!!! Whoops!! :-) Well, we had adapt and he ended up wearing a different shirt. So, when I had the image made for us, I had her "put" Chad in the shirt he was supposed to wear for the pictures! LOL

Adoption

This story was on the news a couple weeks ago.  I love seeing positive adoption stories on TV.  They give me hope that "our turn" will come some day! 

http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=57007

It's Official!!

About two weeks ago, Chad and I learned that we were officially approved to adopt a child thru the Adoption Option parnthership thru the Village and Lutheran Social Services.  We started the process in September so it was close to 9 months that we were in the approval process.  We are thrilled to actually be a waiting family.  We know the journey is still long and hard but at least we're making progress to achieve the dream we have also wanted-to be a mom and a dad! 

We have a busy summer ahead of us with three weddings in June, a trip to Minneapolis for my birthday and several motorcycle trips planned.  We had a nice Memorial Day weekend and spent Memorial Day at the Veteran's Cemetery in Mandan, ND honoring the service men and woman.  It was really cold out there but it's the least I could do to support what a special place.   

Cancer!

We woke up on Sunday morning to this in our yard!  Our neighbors and good friends Rod and Della sent it down to us.  Their daugher and her co-workers who are nurses at the local hospital are doing a fundraiser for Relay for Life so they're putting it in people's yards and then you have to "donate" and then you can send it to someone else.  I was happy to donate to help support finding a cure for a disease that has personally touched me.  We sent it to our friends this evening. 

Frank and Beans didn't know what it was and kept sniffing it.  LOL.  Frank posed good for me so I could take this picture....Beans.....not so much.   

Nursery

I wanted to get a few things for the nursery to include in our family profile.  I ordered a proof of the book today so I'm excited to see how it looks in print.  Anyways, here's a little collage of the nursery.  Enjoy!! 

Las Vegas

We had such a great vacation about a month ago to Las Vegas.  It was so nice to see Julie and Mom and Dad since it had been several months since I last saw them.  Chad and I stayed on the strip one night and then met with Julie and Mom and Dad the rest of the trip.  We saw Hoover Dam, Fremont Street and did a dune buggy tour in the desert.  We also got to eat at PF Changs-one of my favorite restaurants.  We had such a great time! 

My mom is starting to get hair back after her cancer treatment!  Yeah!  That makes me so happy is losing her hair was so tramatic for her. 

This was the BEST dessert at Serendipity on the strip.  It was an ice cream sandwich and frozen hot chocolate. 

Isn't Technology Amazing!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106772/How-Facebook-couples-dream-starting-family-come-true.html?ito=feeds-newsxml




Now, when Chad complains that I'm on Facebook too much I can tell him I'm networking!  LOL.

Adoption

I've been busy working on our profile.  It's actually been a lot of fun and I'm happy to say I'm getting more confortable with Photoshop.  It's been really interesting to read about adoption lately in People Magazine.

http://celebritybabies.people.com/2012/03/16/charlize-theron-adopts-says-swaddling-is-amazing/
http://celebritybabies.people.com/2012/03/07/adoption-kristin-davis-anderson-cooper-video/
http://celebritybabies.people.com/2012/01/13/katherine-heigl-adoption-was-always-our-family-plan/
http://www.parenting.com/blogs/celebrity-kids-parents/parentingcom/guncles-open-adoption

Viva Las Vegas

We're headed to Las Vegas in a couple hours for a little vacation.  On Monday, we had our last interview and home study for the adoption.  Yeah!  Now, our social worker needs to compile everything and put together her report.  I also have to put our profile together too once we find out the format for it.  We'll be in Vegas for 4 days and I can't wait to see Julie and my parents.  I have missed them so much while they have spent the winter in Vegas this year. 

We took the puppy dogs for a long walk before we dropped them off at the kennel.  Frank loves eating and playing in the snow.  His snow beard was so cute I had to take a picture of it!! 

Pumped Up Kicks!

Yesterday, we stopped at Runnings while out doing some errands and they had customer appreciation days so when we walked in we each got a coupon.  I got one for 20% off shoes so I headed back to the shoe department.  When I walked back there, I saw Under Armour shoes.  I thought Runnings only sold cowboy boots!  Anyways, when I showed Chad a pair he tried thought they were pretty comfy too so we ended up with semi-matching shoes.

Adoption

I think it's really interesting but some major shows on TV right now have had adoption storylines. 

Smash
http://www.nbc.com/smash/
Greys Anatomy
http://abc.go.com/shows/greys-anatomy

Apparently, the Grey's storyline was based off personal experiences of the producer.  I also read that Ellen Pompoi, who plays Meredith wanted adoption to be part of the show based on her experience adoption an African American baby boy. 

I think it's great to have such positive adoption storylines on major TV shows. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day!  Chad and I had such a great day.  I bought him a funny t-shirt from Cafe Press and couldn't wait to give it to him so we exchanged presents last night. He bought me some homemade all natural soap.  They smell wonderful and can't wait to try them out.  We came home after work and let the dogs out and then met up with Chad's parents for dinner.  It was great to spend V-Day with him this year.  Chad and I shared a 3 course meal and we had a tasty cheesecake dessert.  I'm so happy that I have a Valentine to share the day with.  I remember being single and would wear black on V-day and wish I was out with a loved one!  Now, I wish I could spend the day with a little one.  My nieces both had matching heart sweaters that were so adorable.  One day, I hope to be able to dress up a little one like that! 



NDSU Bison

Well, I finally am posting some pictures of our trip to Texas in January.  We've been really busy at our house the past month.  We ordered the carpet for the basement on Monday and am finishing up with the trim, touch up paint and heat in the bathroom floor before they can install the carpet and other flooring in a few weeks.  We also have had our separate interviews for our adoption and have our joint interview on Monday.  Our social worker is really easy to talk to so it's really not as bad as we thought it would be.  The questions are really hard but I think it's really been good for us to do some soul searching and think about why we are the way we are.  :-)  We don't have any big plans for V-Day.  The day after I have some dental work and Chad is taking a class to get his concealed weapons permit..not sure how I feel about that!!  I also booked our tickets to Vegas in a couple weeks to visit Julie and my parents.  I miss them so much and can't wait to get away for a few days. 

Happy Friday!

I made this for my mom last night.  I'm really getting into ditigal design.  If I wasn't already a lawyer and had a good career, I think I would go to school to become a graphic designer.  I love having an outlet to express my creativity.  I think creativity is a very under-valued trait in the legal world!

UNSUPERVISED

Chad's out of town this week so I'm "batching" it.  I went to a great yoga class last night with a friend and tonight I'm having dinner with a law school friend who is in town.  I got new glasses today too!  Yeah for me! 

It's hard to believe today is Chad's 34th birthday!  We are getting SOOOO old!  :-)  Tonight, we're going to paint a second coat on the doors for the basment, go out to eat at Texas Roadhouse and then come home and eat angel food cake and open presents!  Yeah, for birthdays!  Growing up, when it was our birthday, we got to pick what we wanted for supper and what cake we wanted.  I spent many birthdays and Happy Joes eating taco pizza and often requested German chocolate cake for dessert!  Happy Birthday to my hubby!  What a good hubby he is to me!!

 

 We were able to attend several home games this season as well as all 3 play off games and we are so exicted to be heading to the Championship game in Frisco, TX this weekend.  It will be a long trip but well worth it.  The game and vacation will be a very good start to 2012.  I'll post some pictures of the game when I get back! 

Go BISON!!

2012

Chad and I went to a New Years Eve party on Sat. night.  It was an ugly sweater party.  We had fun but as it got close to midnight and a friend asked if 2011 was a good year for me, I lost it.  I was so suprised at myself for getting so sad about all of the "bad things" that happened in 2011.  We got to bed late and on Sunday morning when I woke up, I just couldn't shake my bad mood for most of the day (which is very much unlike me.)  So, around supper time I made a homemade chocolate cake and Chad and I went to the gas station so I could get a Diet Mountain Dew as we were out at home and stopped at McDonalds for supper.  After the pop, chicken nuggets and chocolate cake I was beginning to feel better.  We sat down to watch the new and the following story came on:  

http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=54247

I was so suprised that the "New Years Baby" was going to make an adoptive parents dreams come true and what an amazing way to start the year for this couple!  I told myself that someday that couple would be us and until then, we will wait patiently and enjoy the time we have as a couple.