Our Homey Harold

Bret and I have been together since college (10 years together this October - yeah us!).

Living it up at the 2004 Liberty Bowl. Go Cards!

We moved around a lot as college kids do but one thing stayed the same, our roommate Harold.

Harold and Wally hanging out our junior year of college.

Harold's that wild and crazy friend you vicariously live your life through. The friend that isn't afraid to take chances; the one who says whatever is on his mind; the one who can make any place his home; the one who you wish could stay just a little while longer before they move on to their next adventure ... this is our friend Harold.

Harold celebrating our 14 month on the wait list all the way from
Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

14 MONTHS WAITING

Harold and his fiance`Kelly moved to Taiwan last January. We miss them and can't wait for them to come home in May, even if it is just temporary. Harold and Kelly asked Bret and I to be in their wedding this summer; we're so honored and can't wait! Nothing is sweeter than seeing two people you love, truly happy and in love with their perfect mate. Kelly and Harold are great together and we can't wait to celebrate their special day with them!

Even though Kelly and Harold are so far away we still stay in touch and they've been rooting us on the whole way. Checking in to see if we've heard any news, moved up on the wait list, etc. They were some of the first people we shared our desire to adopt with while still debating taking the giant step forward. Thank you both for being the great people that you are. We love you both and can't wait for our daughter to meet her Aunt Kelly and Uncle Harold!

From Our Family to Yours

Wishing you and your loved ones all the wonder and magic of Christmas!

Merry Christmas, 

Another One Bites the Dust

Another month has come and another month has gone. We have officially been on CHI's wait list for ...

MONTHS

Every month that passes we ask someone close to us on our adoption journey to help us celebrate. This month we asked our close friends Mike and Amanda to help us mark the special occasion, this was their festive holiday creation.

Thanks Mike & Amanda!    

Amanda has been my "wing-girl" throughout our adoption journey! She generously held two Pampered Chef fundraisiers to help us cover our adoption fees; solicited donations for our silent auction; volunteered to make our Adoption Benefit a success; and drove to our house with a box of wine, twizzlers, whoppers, and Doritos when I needed it the most. She has been there for us from the very beginning and will no doubt be there waiting for us at the airport when we come home. Thanks for being such a great friend, Amanda!

Mike is the talented artist that I've featured on our blog from time to time. He donated his artwork to help us reach our dream of becoming parents. He has also been drafted on several occasions to help Bret complete a few of my many home improvement projects. I'm not sure where we'd be without you and your tools Mike (lol). Thanks for being such a great friend too!

Thirteen. This has always been a lucky number for Bret and me. I was born on Friday the 13th, Bret and I were married on the 13th, my wedding band has 13 diamonds in it ... let's hope that 13 continues to be a special number.

We are more than ready to see our precious gift.

Merry Christmas,

Move Over Bob Vila!

Last Spring Bret and I were rudely awakened by a horrible smell. Our Corgi Gracie had gotten sick in the worse place imaginable - under our bed. While still wiping the sleep from our eyes, we tried to disassemble the bed to clean-out underneath. Our heavy king size bed was too much for my tired arms so I asked to rest it on the foot board and when we did - SNAP! The wooden foot board snapped in two and the bed broke. 

When we started looking at replacements we were shocked at the prices. We had bought our bed from a friend so it was a fraction of what king sizes beds normally cost. So, Bret decided to build us a head board and buy a new bed frame instead of purchasing us a new bed.  

We started out with this: 

If you're in the market for an old door and live in/around Lexington, KY. We scored this door at one of our favorite places, the Cowgirl Attic. An endless day of discovery - a true picker's paradise.

We transformed the door into this: 

 sanded and with crown molding added ...

Patched.

First layer of paint and first layer of GLUE.
HINT: The fireplace in the background is our next project!

First layer of ivory paint over glue.

It's coming together ...

Here it is folks. Our new bed! Thank you to my very talented hubby!

Adoption Update: there has been no movement for us on the wait list since our last blog post. Thankfully there have been referrals but the majority of them have been for boys (my friend Anne recently got the referral of her son. Yeah Anne!). Two girl referrals were given for a 13 month old and a 7 year-old. We're still sitting tight at #10 (unofficially #6 for a girl).

In the meantime, we're trying to stay busy. Onto the next home improvement project ...   

12 Months Waiting ...

My friend Ashley and I have been best friends since high school. She was my Matron of Honor in our wedding and her daughter Abby was our flower girl.

Ashley has been there for me through so many BIG and small moments in my life. She lives in a different town now and has been blessed with 5 amazing children (4 girls and a boy), all of which keep her very busy. Even though we don't see each other that often, we talk to each other every week.

No one understands me and my crazy family better; no one (except Bret) knows all my flaws and loves me anyway; no one else can I speak so openly to without judgement; and no one else knows how badly I want to be a mother. Ashley, thank you for being such a great friend and a great example of what a devoted and loving mother looks like behind-the-scenes.

Ashley and her girls celebrate our LONG WAIT on the wait list, Amharic style:

There it is folks, we've been waiting 12 LONG MONTHS.

Thankfully there have been referrals since the last time I blogged. Two of my wait list buddies got their referrals this week! I am happy that the wait for them to see their son's faces is finally over! I am hopeful that our wait will be over soon too.

Thankful Thursday

I'll admit it ... I have been in a funk this week with our adoption!

I went from accepting that our referral would take 12-18 months (from the 7-11 months we were originally quoted) and not thinking of our adoption every waking moment; to feeling like it could be any day; to now feeling like it's an eternity away again. All of these thoughts have taken place over the course of two weeks - talk about a roller coaster!

Why the sudden change of heart? Well, on Monday another referral was given out (YEAH!) for a 6.5 month old boy and the family waited 11 months. This meant that no one under us on the wait list requested a boy, which means that everyone under us is more than likely waiting for girls. We know 1-4 are waiting on siblings but we never thought that 5-9 would ALL be waiting for girls.

As a friend recently pointed out ... 5-9 could be waiting on siblings or girls 0-6 months old. This could all be true because we don't know with 100% certainty what the families have requested but for now the signs all point to girls. All week I have been in a funk thinking there have to be 5 more girls referred before we get ours and how much longer is that going to take?

So today I am sitting here laughing at myself ... I am so flipping impatient that I have refused to see the positive side of all of this - we are only 5 girl referrals away from seeing our daughter AND for someone who started at #53 on the wait list 12 months ago - that is an accomplishment!

I am thankful and hopeful that we are closer to seeing the gift that God will place in our lives. I pray that God will allow me to continue to see the positive side, opposed to the dark doubtful side, and as always I continue to pray for patience.

Please keep us in your prayers too,

Making a House a Home.

If you're an avid reader of our blog then you're aware we've been impatiently waiting for "God's perfect timing". 

During the long lull in referrals our agency recently experienced, we decided to turn our anxious energy into making our house a home. Our focus has been to make our house more culturally diverse (art, knick-knacks, photos, etc.), baby proofed, child friendly and filled with things that make us happy. 

One of our projects was to turn these Ethiopian coffee bean bags into valances for our living room. 

I bought these on ebay.
You could make them into pillows, seat cushions, use them for sack races, etc.
( I kept a few for some good ole fashion sack races). 

Bret built these valances and I covered them with the coffee bean bags. 

Click HERE to learn how to make your own valances.

These are the finished products:   

We really like them! They're a conversation piece, kinda artsy, and something about them brings me comfort during the wait ... I think maybe it's because Ethiopia is always on my mind and in my heart ...   it's nice to see a representation of that in the place we love the most - our home.