The Mayne Event

The Next Opera Star

2011-07-10T18:29:00.002-06:00

Gotcha Day & Jeremiah's Birthday

2011-04-19T06:22:00.001-06:00

I can't believe we've had Lacey one year! It has flown by quickly and has been a joy. She was 9 months when we got her, yet very much a newborn. She could not sit up, eat from a spoon and had no teeth. The orphanage workers hinted of issues but we did not realize the scope.

Lacey is full of love and has a strong will. She is as smart as can be, but has some gross and fine motor problems. Our two therapists have helped her come a long way and she is getting close to walking.

Her Gotcha Day is extra special since it happened on Jeremiah's birthday.We are celebrating in the desert with our ATVs as it is Spring Break.We will post pictures when we return.

Mandarin Doll Pajamas

2011-03-19T10:31:00.004-06:00

I came across these Mandarin Doll Pajamas at Emily Rose. Aren't they adorable? I just thought I'd share them with you.

Rent My Timeshare for Really Cheap in 2011

2011-01-04T12:57:00.002-07:00

I own a timeshare in Hawaii that we won't be able to use this year. It's actually on a points system through Diamond Resorts International, so it can be used at many places. Unfortunately for us, we won't be taking a vacation anytime soon as we own two homes. So until we sell one, it's stay cations for us. (We will be taking one long weekend family reunion trip to Disneyland courtesy of Grandma). So excited about that as it was a Christmas present.

If you are considering a vacation, I am selling weeks for really cheap. I have a boatload of points and therefore could sell several weeks at different locations or muliple units.

Some of the destinations include:

Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, California, Colorado, Branson, Las Vegas, South Carolina, Washington DC. There are also many International Destinations in Europe, Mexico, Caribbean, Mexico and the UK.

Just email me at Krista@TallClothingMall.com with the destination you are looking for and the approximate date and I will email you back the price. I just have to check the date and see if it's available and rentals are for 7 days at a time. This is a great way to save some money this year on your vacation.

World Kindness Day

2010-11-13T12:47:00.003-07:00

Today is "World Kindness Day". Everyone is encouraged to do a random act of kindness. How fitting that yesterday I received an anonymous gift card in the mail. :)
It's been a tough financial year for our family and this gift is really appreciated.
So today, I decided to pay it forward. My business made a small donation to Operation Smile, an organization that performs free surgeries on children worldwide who have facial deformities. They are often performed on orphans. Consider making a donation to this wonderful organization, or do some other random act of kindess today!

Together Forever!

2010-10-06T13:37:00.017-06:00

On August 28, 2010 we are able to take Lacey to the Salt Lake temple to be sealed to our family forever! It was the perfect day and I feel inadequate at trying to write the words that explain how I feel about that day. My heart took several pictures and I hope I can retain them forever.

Gerry and I were married in the Salt Lake temple and that means that all children I physically bear, are automatically sealed into our family. Because Lacey was adopted she had to be sealed into our family in order to enjoy the same blessings. The boys had the privilege of being able to watch and we let them choose the temple. I love the Salt Lake temple and the rich history that goes with it, so I was delighted that they chose it. When I was choosing a white dress to wear, i couldn't believe the temple had a Mandarin style dress, so of course I had to wear that one.

When the temple workers brought the children into the sealing rooms they looked like angels and we just cried as they looked so beautiful. We had waited for this day for such a long time. As Lacey was set on the alter, she focused her gaze on the officiator and never took her eyes off of him. Her spiritual side seemed to sense the importance of the ceremony. After the ceremony, I had hired a photographer (another adoptive parent) to try and capture the happiness of the day. I think he did a great job! I'm thankful for our friends and family that were able to attend the sealing with us.

As a side note, there was another family there that day that sealed their 8 year old Chinese daughter to them. Made it extra special to visit a bit with them. :)

What are We Teaching Our Children?

2010-10-03T12:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I heard something so disturbing to me, that it has stirred the very fibers of my soul. I can't stop thinking about it.
I was at my son's soccer game and some boys (about age 9) and a few girls were playing behind me. One of the boys said, "Let's pretend that we love each other and that we aren't married, but we are living together."
What? Are you kidding me? Whatever happened to kids playing make believe mommy and daddy that are married? Has our society deteriorated to the point that kids have no examples of righteous loving families who make covenants to God to love each other within the bonds of marriage?
I know the majority of the world believes this is perfectly fine and that God's commandments are old fashioned and don't apply to them. But, I want to speak up today and be counted as a woman who still believes in old fashioned values. I want my children to make believe play that they are a mommy and daddy who love each other and have made vows to each other to protect the institution of marriage!
Whew, I feel much better with getting that off my chest! Thanks for listening.

Miracles Happen... Even Today!

2010-08-22T20:21:00.012-06:00

Today I was asked to help out in Primary and give a brief testimony of how God is a God of miracles and how miracles are still brought about today when we have great faith. Wow!

So, it got me thinking about how many miracles have happened in our lives in the past year. How do you sum this up in 10 minutes - actually ended up only leaving me with 5 minutes. I've been pretty humbled just thinking about it.

Most of the miracles have involved Lacey's adoption and I know without a doubt that God planned for her to be our daughter. There's no other way to explain it. When I prayed with incredible faith, I saw doors open and things happen that could never have happened before. And because I am weak, I still had moments of doubt that the adoption might not work out.

I want to share a moment with you today. I've been a bit hesitant to share it because it was such a spiritual moment and I don't take these things lightly. But, today I feel like there are others out there waiting and wishing that they can have a bit of hope, that perhaps their adoption wishes might be fulfilled. I feel like today is the day to pass on the hope....

One day this winter, I believe it was in late February, I was so discouraged and worried that everything would fall through with the adoption. Gerry was working a seasonal job and if the court process didn't finish up soon, we may run the risk of not being able to adopt Lacey. Our paperwork had been in Taiwan since January and we hadn't heard anything. I was so fearful and stressed out.

I couldn't sleep at all. I tossed and turned. Finally I decided to get up and do something else. That something else turned to praying. I poured out my soul to my Father in Heaven. I pleaded and begged. Finally I picked up my scriptures. I opened it up and let the pages fall open. They fell open to Romans and a verse really stood out to me.

Romans 8:15

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

It was just what my soul needed. I had no idea there was a scripture about adoption. To me this scripture was telling me that God was saying "let go of your fear, I put the desire in your heart to adopt, and everything will all work out, have faith."

Everything did work out and we know have our sweet Lacey in our family. Today as I reminisced about all the miracles this last year, I am ever so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who loves his children - including me and wants us to be happy. And... I'm so thankful to have Lacey. :)

Our Staycation - Camp Hale

2010-08-06T23:03:00.024-06:00

We love to visit Camp Hale - just over an hour's drive from our home. Camp Hale is an old WWII army base in the Colorado mountains on the way to Leadville. It was used for the 10th Mountain Division soldiers to train them in winter mountain conditions such as skiing and repelling. It was also a Japanese P.O.W. camp.

We just spend an extended weekend camping at Camp Hale with Gerry's parents. The great thing is that Gerry's mother lived there as a child. She actually lived in Pando - which was across the road from the army base. Her father was a government hired civilian worker that ran heavy equipment. The kids love to hear Grandma's stories of when she lived at Camp Hale. She was around 5 years old when she lived there. The prisoners were low risk and were able to somewhat roam around the camp. They used to make wooden toys for her. Once she walked into her home and a prisoner was asleep on the couch. He woke up and ran out the door. At one point Camp Hale had 14,000 army men there.

Camp Hale was demolished at the end of the war and to save money, they dug some holes and buried army vehicles. There are entire foundations of buildings all over the place and many of the roads still remain in place. The roads are still labeled. It's a virtual treasure hunt for the boys as they dig up pieces of metal and find nails, etc.

It's also a four-wheeler heaven! We love to ride there as there's miles of mountain trails. It rained most of the weekend, so our riding was limited. Luckily we camp here every year. We can also just park the Winnebago wherever we want = FREE! (Love that!) I forgot to take pictures of Camp Hale this time - bad, bad blogger!

Leadville

One day we drove up to Leadville - which has the highest elevation of an incorporated city in the United States. We toured the mining museum and spent a while driving through some of the old mining sites.

Donuts

We have a tradition of making homemade donuts from tube biscuit dough when we are camping. They are the easiest breakfast to make. We just roll out a piece into a ball and cut out the center with a pill bottle.

Next, we fry up the donuts or the donut holes in a dutch oven on our camp stove. Then we roll in cinnamon and sugar in a Ziplock. (Easy clean up.)

With our herd, the donuts are usally eaten in less than 5 minutes flat! Yummy!

Random

By the way, here's a cute pictue of Lacey. (obviously not wearing this dress camping) She was sleeping when we took the other pictures.

Grand Junction Dance Festival 2010

2010-07-22T22:57:00.007-06:00

Last weekend our son Christian was involved in a dance festival put on by our church. These are big events and our stake (geographic region) has never put on one before or at least I don't remember any.
Since January the youth ages 12-18 in our stake have been practicing and the women have been sewing costumes. Many people worked hard to put on this great show.
The dance festival was a show where 5 stakes each performed dances from different eras: The 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. The stakes involved in Colorado were Grand Junction (2), Meeker, Montrose, and also the Moab, Utah stake. They danced 2 performances held at Mesa State. It was terrific!

(Christian is the first boy on the left.)

Below if the video of just our stake (Meeker) performing the 50s dance. Christian is in the back left and hard to see. Notice that our Stake President makes an appearance as Elvis!

Here's a picture we took of our Stake President after the show with his grandchildren.

Lacey's Birthday Weekend

2010-07-18T22:13:00.034-06:00

Can you believe our sweet baby is one year old? It is quite the milestone as it seems like we've only had her such a short amount of time, yet feel like we've known her forever.
We sort of celebrated Lacey's birthday off and on all weekend long as we had such a busy weekend with Christian's dance festival (another post on that later).

Lacey is opening the presents her birth family gave to us when we picked her up at the orphanage. They were meant for her first birthday and we kept our promise that we would give them to her.

Check out the lovely bracelet and necklace from the birth family!
We celebrated with a birthday dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant.
Later she enjoyed a yummy cupcake made by Christian and Jeremiah.
This is the first picture (referral picture) we saw of our baby girl.

It's amazing how much we loved her just from this picture! I remembering crying uncontrollably when I saw her. Tears of joy! She's growing up so fast.Parker loves to give Lacey kisses. She turned and kissed him too, but I was too slow with the camera.
Lacey has had some interesting hairdos this weekend. One morning she woke up with this crazy mohawk.

It was then that I decided perhaps her hair is now long enough to curl it a bit. I am so excited to be able to fix her hair. I have waited so many years for this moment.....

We sure are enjoying out "Elegant Blessing" (the meaning of Lacey's Taiwanese name)!

Motivational Moment

2010-07-13T12:02:00.003-06:00

Amid the chaos of this Summer it is easy to get discouraged. I have had a trying week with trying to keep two houses clean and ready for house showings at any moment. I took a break and saw this message in an email. It's just the motivation I need today!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T21:52:00.005-06:00

Happy Father's Day to my Handsome Prince. Thanks for giving me the greatest adventures of my life. You're my best friend! Thanks for making me laugh every day and for being the greatest Father to our children! I love you!

I Love My 5 Kids

2010-06-19T20:22:00.003-06:00

Tonight I ran across the first discrimination I have encountered since adopting Lacey. I wrote out a whole post about it and then decided it wasn't worth my time. I guess it was just therapy to write it down and then erase it. I think the discrimination was more geared toward us having 5 kids than it was about adopting her. Wow, is 5 kids really that many? I don't think so and if I was younger I'd have or adopt a bunch more! I feel so much better now! By the way, the above picture is kind of silly and was taken at a luau at our church. However, I believe it's our first family picture!

A Precious Weekend

2010-06-06T22:45:00.028-06:00

This weekend was one of the best weekends ever. It's the kind of weekend where I want tried to take mental pictures and lock them away forever in my heart! Our 3rd son - Ian was baptized. He's such a joy to have in our family and we are so thankful for him. He's a real spiritual giant and full of joy!
Also, Lacey was given her name and a blessing by her Daddy. This is a tradition in our church where babies have a special prayer that announces her official name (Lacey Enya) to the world. She is also given a blessing to help her throughout her life.

We had lots of family to be with us on this special weekend. Most came from Utah and my cousin came from Wisconsin. Also, we have lots of family that lives close by us.

We stayed up late laughing, visiting and having a wonderful time. We had 40 people to dinner. We still own 2 homes (mixed blessing) and so it was easy to accommodate everyone. I could not believe how easy both sides of the family got along so well this weekend.

Here is a picture of two Taiwanese cousins through American adoptions. Trevor was adopted from Taiwan 5 years ago by Gerry's cousin (also our best friends). He was adopted from the same orphanage as Lacey. This is the first time these two cuties have seen each other. A real tear jerker.

Our Parker on the right with cousin Logan. They were inseparable all weekend. By coincidence they came out dressed exactly the same!
We even saw this incredible rainbow from our deck.

It was as close to a perfect weekend as we could have had!

An Adoption Miracle

2010-05-25T06:54:00.005-06:00

Through this journey of adoption, I had so many miracles in order for everything to work out perfectly. It has been a journey of faith and of God's will being brought to pass.
Today I'd like to share someone else's journey. Along the way I met Tami. She's an incredible woman of faith. They adopted Noah from Taiwan and then decided Jeremiah needed a home too. Jeremiah is a special needs child with cerebral palsy. I saw Jeremiah in his crib when we were in Taiwan and I've been praying that they can get the money they need to adopt him.
Tami and her family have literally raised the money to adopt him $1 at a time. They have held bake sales, plate dinners, car washes, auctions, yard sales and every kind of fundraising event you can imagine. I've been amazed at their determination.
They leave for Taiwan soon - I think next week and after all that they have done, they needed a bit more money. Today they received an anyonomous donation via PayPal for $2000. They finally have the last bit of money needed to adopt Jeremiah! Praise God! You can view the video here.

One Month Home

2010-05-21T10:10:00.027-06:00

We picked up Lacey just over a month ago. My how time has flown by. Lacey has really blossomed since we got her. She just turned 10 months old and we are helping her catch up developmentally. Here are some accomplishments:

She can now sit up for small periods of time before tipping over. She couldn't sit up at all when we got her.
She rolls around the room and has started doing the army crawl.
When we got her she couldn't eat from a spoon and now she eats all the baby foods like a trooper.
2 teeth have broken through the bottom gums.
Her left hand was always clutched closed. We work her out daily and really concentrate on trying to get her more interactive with her hands. Now the majority of the time her hand stays open. We are working on getting her to hold her bottle and try to pick up small objects with a thumb and finger.
She sleeps through the night! Hooray!
Her words are hi, dada, and baba, (interesting that baba in chinese means daddy, so no luck for me). Plus lots of other jibberish words like en - for needing food.
She's tiny - around 16 pounds in the 5% for weight and 50% for height.

Overall, she has such an easy going, sweet personality. We love her to death. Her 4 brothers (a.k.a. the court jesters) keep "The Princess" entertained at all times and they adore her. We are all in love with Lacey and the long wait (3 years) was completely worth it.

We left for Taiwan 2 days after Gerry's work was scheduled to to have a 5 week seasonal break. It was perfect timing. He's been home this entire time - feels like a maternity leave - and it's been nice to have the extra hands while we are adjusting. He starts back to work in a few days. We will miss having him around all of the time.

Grandma M. made this adorable blanket. Lacey with cousin Cayden. He's 2 weeks older.

We went to visit Grandma Luci. She is so happy to finally have a granddaughter after 10 grandsons. I have a feeling she is going to spoil her rotten.

One more picture, just because she's so darn cute!

Beautiful Video - My New Life

2010-05-11T08:32:00.003-06:00

This video is beautiful, but grab a kleenex before watching!

You can visit Stephanie Nielson's blog here. She is an amazing blogger, woman, Mother and inspiration.

Why We Love Skype

2010-04-29T18:18:00.004-06:00

Skype was an incredible tool for us when we were in Taiwan. For those of you not understanding what it is, I'll try and explain. Skype is a free program that you download on your computer. You choose a user name. Then your friend or family member also downloads it to their computer and chooses a user name. Make sure you exchange user names with each other. If you have a web cam on your computer you can video talk to each other for free. We used it daily while in Taiwan to communicate with the boys. They really enjoyed being able to talk with us face to face and it was especially fun once we got the baby for the boys to see her.

Another very valuable tool through Skype is Skype phone calling. Before we left for Taiwan they offered a special rate of $2.95 per month. We could call any U.S. number through our computer (not video calling, but voice calling) for just the $2.95 a month fee. I can't tell you how valuable this was to be able to call some family members that don't have access to Skype videos. Also, in Taiwan we decided to change our flights and were able to call the airlines through the computer, thus saving lots of time and money on phone calls. Now that we are home, we have cancelled the monthly charge as we don't need it any longer.

Before I went to Taiwan, I called my cell phone service - Verizon to see what it would cost to make phone calls in Taiwan. They don't have any International plans for Taiwan so the price is $2 per minute whether you call or someone calls you. At that rate, I decided to forgo the cell phone and just use the Skype calling.

Got Milk?

2010-04-23T20:43:00.004-06:00

This outfit is pretty special to us as it was given to us in Taiwan. We think Lacey looks adorable in it and had to share!

Overall we are adjusting wonderfully, other than a bit sleep deprived. The boys adore Lacey and we've had to put them on a rotating basis of who is next to hold her. She loves them! Today we even journeyed out to Target and must say that she is more even tempered than any of our kids. She didn't fuss at all. We are so incredibly happy and in love!

Our Trip Home

2010-04-21T03:43:00.007-06:00

Lacey is on Taiwan time, which means she slept most of the flight home from Taiwan to LAX. We really enjoyed our flights in EVA airways. The service was excellent. We upgraded to Elite class, so we could have more leg room and were also able to get a bulkhead seat for the way home. In front of the seat, a bassinet was able to attach to the wall so that Lacey could sleep in it the majority of the flight.
Once to LAX, we had to process her through Immigration. We were given a mysterious set of papers that we had to give Immigration. These papers were sealed in an envelope and we were commanded to not open them at all. Once we gave them the papers, we were told to wait in the waiting area with around 50 other people from countries all around the world.
Judging from how slowly things were moving, I estimated it was going to be around a 3 hour wait for our turn. After 15 minutes, we were called forward. I think maybe they process adoptions first, but am not sure. They told me how to apply for a social security card and that some items (I think a green card) will be mailed to me. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what they said, it's all a blur, so if anyone knows the next steps I need to take to get her name changed etc., please fill me in. Then they handed me her Taiwanese passport and congratulated us on having the newest American immigrant.
We walked through customs without any problems and up to the area where people were waiting for the arriving Immigrants. Several people had American flags and it really hit me that Lacey's life has just changed in a big way. I got a bit teary eyed to think she is the newest American. Several workers at the airport told us "she is one lucky girl." We feel that way, but also feel that we are the lucky ones.
We are overnighting in LA, as there were not any later connecting flights. We have the first flight home this morning. Lacey has been up since 2 am, and I've given up on getting her back to sleep. It could be tricky to get her days and nights switched around. Plus, she's a little social bug and is afraid she will miss something. The orphanage workers told us that she catnaps at night and likes to play during the night and sleep during the day.
The boys are so excited to see their sister. We have been using Skype the entire time while in Taiwan and it has helped them to feel connected. They will be getting out of school early today to meet us!
My plan is to updated a little more about the trip and some tips for other adoptive parents in a few days as time allows.

On Our Way Home

2010-04-19T23:08:00.004-06:00

We had our appointment this morning with AIT (American Institute in Taiwan). This is where all adoption papers are checked and processed so we can get Miss Lacey's visa and passport. Everything went very smoothly. They are able to get it done today, so we have changed our flights and are coming home 2 days early.
We loved our time here in Taiwan, but are ready to head home to our boys. So we've been doing the whirlwind packing job and are heading out in less than an hour. All flights are changed and we're ready to go home.

Introducing Our Baby

2010-04-19T06:35:00.005-06:00

We picked up our baby girl today and now we can finally show you her picture. We have decided to name her Lacey. We love her so much already.
Our time at St Lucy's orphanage was wonderful. We went over her schedule, had a nice visit and toured the facility. So far Lacey is so easy. She has been smiling at us and giving us kisses all day. She seems very even tempered and we hope it lasts. She's smaller than we pictured. We were also given a CD with over 300 pictures from the time she was a newborn until today including the pictures they took of us today. Those pictures are priceless! The nannies in the facility love her greatly and I'm thankful they took such good care of her.
After we picked her up at the orphanage we took the high speed train back to Taipei. We found diapers at one store, but they didn't sell baby food. So, we had to take a taxi to Carefour to get baby food and purchase a stroller.
She has just taken her bottle and is asleep, so it's time for us to sleep too!
We feel so blessed and honored to be her parents!
By the way Happy Birthday Jeremiah! Not everyone gets a baby sister for their birthday! We miss you boys and can't wait to get home to you.

Tainan Part 2

2010-04-18T09:05:00.022-06:00

If you have not read the previous post - Indiana Jones - please read it first and then return to read this part of our day.

Gerry was able to rest most of the day and slowly began to feel better and regain his strength. He had been very pale and quite weak. Around 4 pm, we decided it was time to check out this city.

With the exchange rate, we can get around very cheaply in a taxi. We told our English speaking friends at the front desk to "hire a taxi for us. Tell them that we would like to see the main highlights of the city. We need the taxi driver to drive carefully and not crazy. "

We ended up with an older gentleman as our driver. He was so great. He drove extremely cautiously and did exactly as we desired. He'd pull up to the front gate of a building, let us out and wait for us while we walked around the sites. Some sites we spent 10 minutes looking at, others only a few minutes. It was perfect! We didn't read everything in great depth, but took pictures of the main points and it was nice to see the actual city!

Our impressions:

Tainan is much different than Taipei. The buildings aren't as high as Taipei, there are more kids, it's cloudier here, people seem to be more relaxed and very social with each other.
Tainan is less Americanized - less foreigners. However, we see many American businessmen - perhaps working contracts with the factories here.
The little kids and even adults love to look into my blue eyes.
The pace of the city, seems to move a tad bit slower here, and traffic is less congested.

Here are a few highlights of our taxi tour.

Just 10 hours until we meet our daughter!

Indiana Jones Has Nothing Over Us

2010-04-17T21:50:00.023-06:00

Disclaimer, Please Read:
I want to make it clear that the following post could contain some sensitive info. and that I am in no way demeaning the people, or country here. They have been nothing but overly kind and helpful throughout our experience! Also, everyone involved is fine now.

In the middle of the night, Gerry experienced a nose bleed, not just your every day nose bleed, but a slowly flowing river that would not stop. This was the 3rd nose bleed this week. Now, it's not terribly unusual for him, as he has suffered from sinus problems his entire life and has had 3 sinus surgeries.
However, this nose bleed wasn't to the stage of needing a transfusion, but we became concerned and decided it was time to go to the hospital. After all, how was I supposed to move him if he passed out? So, we went to our hotel lobby and the employees of our hotel were so nice. We got a cab and thought we were headed to one hospital, the one our adoption agency recommended, but were taken to a closer hospital about 3 blocks away. When we arrived, they determined we needed to transfer to the hospital that we originally thought we were headed to, as they have an E.N.T. doctor and would be better able to serve Gerry.

Thus, begins our wild ride - literally. We had the Indiana Jones taxi driver of all times. The guy was seriously panicked. Thankfully it was the middle of the night and there wasn't many people driving. He ran at least 10 red lights. He would just honk as he sped through the light. He swerved between a scooter and a taxi driver narrowly missing them. Then the real fun began when he turned through a neighborhood with very narrow streets. He went full blast and just kept blaring his horn at every intersection, twisting and turning as we raced to the hospital. Gerry saw all of this with one eye, as he had his ice pack and towel over his other eye area. We screeched to a halt at the front door of the hospital.

Once inside, we had to pay $700NT which is roughly about $21 US. Then we were taken to the emergency room and he was placed on a bed and they started an IV. There were about 20 other patients in this room. Gerry was given a shot of something - not sure what to stop the bleeding. I asked if it was a vitamin K shot - and it was not, but that it does something similar. The attending Dr. was very kind.

After about 20 minutes his nose stopped bleeding. He was taken for a head x-ray and then transferred to the observation room. Now we had 30 people in beds, with no curtains, all suffering together. We were concerned we might become ill ourselves. I felt so bad for some of the people. The hospital was obviously understaffed and underfunded. There are not many regular Dr. offices here, so everyone comes to the hospital for everything - including us for nose bleeds!

Just a side note, this is most likely the hospital where our baby was born. We did hear a newborn cry in the next room, sounded like it was just born. Kind of a special and emotional moment for me.
The plan was for us to wait until the morning for the ENT Dr. to come in and they would examine him. This would be another 2-3 hours. After waiting another hour and observing conditions, we decided to leave the hospital and see if we would be fine.

We sort of checked ourselves out of the hospital. The Dr. told us he would prefer to us to wait to see the ENT, and I told him. "I respect you and you have been very kind. I believe he is fine, so therefore we would like to leave and we will come back again if he has problems." He told us by law he can't keep us there and he reluctantly let us go. We paid another $1300NT when we checked out for the x-ray and already filled prescriptions. All together the ER visit costs us $63 US.

The cab ride back to the hotel took about 5 minutes and was relatively calm, but he drove pretty fast. The ride to the hospital only took 2-3 minutes - just to put it all in perspective.

In the hotel room - 20 minutes later Gerry's nose started bleeding all over again. Now what do we do? We prayed and kept icing it, etc. as well as made a call to Gerry's mom to see if our Dr. at home could give us some advice. We also decided to call some missionaries from our church to come and pray with us. They arrived and offered a beautiful prayer in our behalf. We had an overwhelming feeling of God's love for us as well as for all of his children all over the world. One of the missionaries is from Florida and the other from Nevada. They are truly wise for their ages and I appreciate their 2 year sacrifice to serve the people here in Taiwan. We feel at peace that this problem will be o.k, until we can at least get back to Taipei tomorrow afternoon or possibly until we arrive home!

We cancelled our tour of this area that he had planned for today, which was a huge disappointment. We came down here a day early specifically to tour this area and take pictures as this is the area our baby's family is from. We are spending the rest of the day in the room taking it easy and Gerry is trying to not move his head very much. We wanted to get as much of the cultural aspects of this area as possible. In a very real way, we actually have. We got to observe the every day people in the hospitals and the staff here. We've seen some very tender moments that are priceless! The Taiwanese people are soft spoken, caring and overly helpful!
Here's our tour of Tainan from our hotel room window.

Tomorrow is the big day! Can't wait to get our baby! If you don't mind, say a little prayer for us that Gerry's nose will not continue to have problems and that the baby will adjust easily to us and bond with us quickly. Thank you.

Headed South

2010-04-17T06:30:00.013-06:00

Around noon today, we took the high speed train to Tainan. Taipei is in the northern part of the island and Tainan is in the south. The train was easy to use, and the seats were spacious and offered lots of leg room. The entire trip took just under 2 hours.

Most of the ride was above ground and included many passes through tunnels in the hills. We enjoyed seeing the different views of Taiwan. We made several brief stops at some large cities. Outside of the cities, there are lots of rice patty fields and farms . It's hard to describe some of the scenery. The houses varied from apartment buildings, to little shacks, to USA style farm homes. There was no rhyme or reason. There were also many factories along the way.

Once here in Tainan, it appears to have more factories. It's still a large city, but the high rises are not as high as Taipei. We are seeing more families here and perhaps the people have less money than in Taipei. People are very fashion conscious and "name brand fashions" are very popular. We are finding very friendly people, and I have had many little girls become very fascinated with me. Maybe it's because I'm so tall. I'm not sure, but I've had a few come close to listen to me speak. They get embarrassed when I look at them.

It's kind of strange, but we are having a bit of cultural shock here. I think it's that Taipei is a bit more International and here we feel like a bit of a novelty. We decided to call it a night.

Day 1 in Taipei

2010-04-16T04:16:00.051-06:00

We had a great flight to Taipei. Eva Air is the best! I've used to be a travel agent, and have flown on many airlines, but they were the best airline I've ever flown on. The service and food were excellent. However, the 13 hour flight seemed to last forever. Anyway, we arrived safely and were relieved to find our driver waiting to take us to our hotel. We arrived at our hotel around midnight.

We got up really early and were ready to go. After breakfast and a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood, we were ready for some sightseeing.

First off, we stopped at the Taiwan National Museum. We were able to view incredible artifacts and learn much about Taiwan culture. Anyone that comes here must come on Friday as a Taiwan English speaking tour guide that calls himself "Michael", was excellent. Friday is the only day he works. We had fun visiting with a group of 5 from Wyoming - that we also ended up running into later in the day.

For lunch, we headed to Taipei 101. This is the 2nd tallest building in the world. We thought we would splurge on a nice meal before we pick up the baby. So, we ate lunch in the 85th floor Chinese restaurant. It was a 7 course meal and cost $ 1700 each. Well, don't faint it's $ 1700 NRT which equals about $ 60 each. That will definitely be our most expensive meal, but the views were priceless. It also took about 2 hours to eat the meal. Gerry is not one to try foreign or unknown foods, but he was determined to try it all and he did eat it all. I actually had a harder time with some of the foods. Here are the visuals of what we ate:

Course 1 - Quartet of cold appetizers:
Chilled Hokkaido scallop, poached fresh squid, baby abalone and crispy king oyster mushroom.

Course 2-Double boiled frish maw with eight treasures.

Course 3 - Fillet of round cod with sweet and sour sauce.

Course 4 - Braised pork knuckle with oyster sauce and broccoli.

Course 5 - Sauteed mustard leaf with bait herring fish. (The mini fish were whole with eyes.)

Course 6 - Beef fried rice

Course 7 - Seasonal fresh fruits and sweets

After Taipei 101, we headed to the Taiwan Handicraft Market for some shopping. Everything in there is made in Taiwan and they sell traditional items. Gerry was so happy as I promised him I would do most of my shopping here and we really found some cool things such as jade necklaces, coral necklaces, traditional toys and items our daughter will love as she gets older. It's a bit more expensive that the night markets, but he's not too crazy about crowds, so it was worth it.

Our first impressions about Taiwan is that we are finding it very modern and much cleaner than we imagined. The Taiwanese people are extremely nice and helpful. The hotel people have gone out of their way to help us and offer suggestions to save us money. Although we are both very tall, we don't feel made fun of or out of place. Scooters and taxis are the main forms of transportation. We will do most of our traveling by taxis and we've had some scary rides today including a driver that ran a red light and one that almost ran over someone. The scooters are everywhere and dash in and out of traffic like crazy.

Brought to You by Hertz & Avis

2010-04-14T16:03:00.005-06:00

We are on our way to Taiwan! Yippee! We've had two great flights. Currently we are at LAX. We love the show "The Amazing Race" and are thinking of this journey as our amazing race. The first task on this leg of the journey was to get thank-you cards done from our baby shower. I wrote the thank-you cards on the flight to L.A., while Gerry addressed and stamped them. It took us the entire flight to get them done. The plan was to drop them off at the LAX airport.
Well, we hit a road-block. Apparently, since 9/11, all airport mail pick-up is gone. So, how were we to mail these thank-you cards? We asked airport info for the nearest mail drop box. Since we have a 5 hour layover, she suggested we ride the Hertz rental bus to Hertz and the post office is located across the street. So, we inconspicuously hopped on the Hertz rental bus. When we arrived, we couldn't get out of the lot as their is a tall chain-link fence surrounding it. So, we wandered around the lot until we found an exit - opposite of the post office. We walked down the road, through a construction zone and finally arrived at the post office. See picture below!

After we got the cards mailed, we noticed that Avis was also next door to the post-office, but that they were less-fortified and easier to enter into the lot. So, we casually strolled up to the Avis bus and jumped on and road it back to LAX. Total cost = FREE!
Aren't we easily entertained?

Awesome Baby Shower

2010-04-14T07:06:00.000-06:00

On April Fool's Day - my wonderful friends and family gave me a "good wishes" baby shower with a Chinese theme.

I was completely overwhelmed with the support we received. We are going to have the best dressed baby girl around!

The picture above is after I brought all the unwrapped gifts home and laid them out in the living room. It looked like Christmas.
Another cool thing about the shower is that most everyone brought some clothing to donate to the orphanage and we ended up with a full suitcase full of clothes, bibs, burp cloths and baby socks!

Adoption Family Home Evening

2010-03-31T06:18:00.004-06:00

This week for family home evening, we used adoption as our theme. It turned out really well. I read about an idea and used it for our family. I gave everyone a paper cup and poured water in it from a pitcher. I asked the boys what happens when I run out of water. They answered that I just go and get more water out of the tap. I compared this to love in that every time I have had a baby God has supplied more than enough love in our hearts (my heart and my husband's heart) to love another child and that there is going to be enough love for everyone.
We then talked about what it means to be adopted, the reasons why children are orphans and how hard it might be for a birth family to have to put their children up for adoption. We really got into a great discussion with the 3 oldest boys about some of the discrimination that our baby might face as she grows up. It was funny to see how protective the boys already are. We opened it up to any questions they might have about adoption and our situation. I'm always amazed at how spiritually mature and what deep thinkers we have.
We then discussed how busy we are going to be until we head to Taiwan and how everyone needs to help out, etc. I just thought I'd share this with you as I think these type of discussions are really an important part in preparing the older kids for the changes that are going to happen in the immediate future.

Flights Are Booked!

2010-03-16T09:13:00.004-06:00

Our flights are booked! We leave in one month. I can't believe we are finally going to travel.
We used airline miles to get us to LAX and booked EVA airways for the International flights. We decided to upgrade to Elite class on EVA airlines since we are both tall and need the leg room.
We are still looking into hotels, so we would love to hear your recommendations. We will start in Taipei and spend a couple of nights in the Tainan area and then end up again in Taipei.
We would like to see and do as much as we can before we pick up the baby.
Anyone close to me knows how much I am obsessed with beaches. It doesn't appear that Taiwan has the greatest beaches. If, I am wrong and anyone can recommend somewhere to stay one or two nights at a beach area to just relax, we would love it.
So, bring on the recommendations for hotels, restaurants, places to visit, etc.
Wow, just one month until we have our daughter in our arms! All of the sudden it feels like we have a lot to do.

Glenwood Canyon Rockslide

2010-03-08T17:03:00.003-07:00

Last night there was a huge rockslide in the Glenwood Springs canyon. This canyon is just west of our home on I-70. Traffic is completely shut down through the canyon. Gerry came back through the canyon last night just a couple hours before the rockslide. I'm so thankful no one was hurt. Rocks the size of semi trucks came down. The road will be closed for days. You can view more picture here.

We are So Blessed!

2010-03-05T17:40:00.004-07:00

I just have to share with you some great blessings we received today! International adoption is not cheap. In fact there are lots of hidden costs that add up. Money has been tight this year and for most people looking at our situation, they think we're absolutely crazy to spend the money during this crazy economic time. When we decided to adopt 3 years ago, it was not about money. It was about making a difference in the world by adopting an orphan and giving them a family. What better thing can you do for someone?
We felt "called" to adoption by God and he has blessed us for it.
Today is a prime example. I was going through paperwork trying to find everything I needed to get our taxes done. I was getting pretty discouraged looking at all the tax info. While pulling some info off my computer, I got an email that money was being transferred to our account from a personal loan we gave out a while ago. What a huge blessing.
Not even a hour later, I could not find some tax info.that I needed. I was going nuts. In the process I came across a $2000 cashier's check. Now tell me, who loses a $2000 check? Not me, I'm very money conscious. It was a check we got when we bought our other house 18 months ago and was a refund for the interest rate lock deposit.
I think in the excitement of moving into the new house, I put the check in with the paperwork and totally forgot about it. Can you believe I came across this check? Anyway, I called the bank and they said it was still good. So, between the money gotten today, it is almost the exact amount we need to pay to finalize the adoption!
God is great! Coincidence? I think not!

Hallelujah - Bring on the Pink!

2010-03-03T22:43:00.002-07:00

May I please have a drumroll............................................................................................................................................
We got word today that we made it through the court process! We will be traveling to pick up our baby girl mid April! We are so excited. We are thrilled that we made it through the court process so fast. We figure we waited long enough for our referral, that we are blessed with a fast court process. God is great!
In all, it has been a 3 year process to this point from when we first starting working on adoption documents. So, it's definately a LABOR of love!
It couldn't come at a better time. Gerry will finish up the ski season and we will leave a few days later. So awesome! Also, his parents will be back in town to watch the boys! We can't believe it and are so excited. Now, we have to get our airline tickets and hotels, etc.

We Got New Pictures

2010-02-25T19:03:00.002-07:00

Today we got new pictures of our baby girl. Don't look too hard as we aren't allowed to post them until the adoption is completely finalized. It appears she got an extemely short haircut, similar to a butch. I'm not sure if this is normal, but I wish they would let her hair grow out a little. My cousin said to think of it as a "pixie cut.".
We also got measurements. At seven months, she is now 15 lbs and 25 inches long. This is small in comparision to my boys, but I think it may be actually on the large size for a Taiwanese baby. Can anyone comment on this? She looks rather well fed and quite plump. Glad to see she is getting enough to eat, of course she is our child. We didn't get any other info as far as personality traits or how the court process is going. We hope we hear something soon! The wait is agonizing.
We thought we had her name all figured out, and it's quite an unusual name. Now, we are second guessing it as we wonder if she will hate always having to explain how to pronounce it or spell it. We may go with more of a traditional name.

My Thoughts Exactly

2010-02-20T21:31:00.001-07:00

Fun inspirational words for all of us!

Chinese New Year Valentines

2010-02-08T23:22:00.003-07:00

Yes, I should be in bed, but I'm not. While cruising around the blogosphere, I came across a really cute idea over at Our Best Bites on how to make Chinese New Year Valentines. I thought you might enjoy it too. Looks fun!

Do You Have a Disaster Plan?

2010-01-24T21:40:00.004-07:00

Tonight our church presented a great lecture on "how to prepare for disasters". It was hosted by a trained FEMA member. Members of the Red Cross and our county had tables set up with more info on disaster plans.
Going into the meeting I feel like our family is pretty prepared for many situations. Coming out of the meeting, I can see that we can still improve.
We will be having some additional family home evenings on:

Fire Drill
Practicing what to do in case of a chemical spill in our area
Practicing evacuating with our 72 hour kits
Need to upload photos to an online storage site & especially current photos of the kids.
Also upload import documents to this online storage site.
Take color photos of our home inside and out.
Check with the school on how to get our kids out of a lockdown situation in case we need to evacuate the area.

It's not fun to think about, but it's better to be prepared.

Donate to Help the Orphans of Haiti

2010-01-13T16:29:00.002-07:00

Our adoption agency also works with orphans in Haiti. With the earthquake in Haiti, they still have not received word to the status of the 3 orphanages they work with in Haiti. Here is our quote from an email from our agency "We work with an organization in Haiti called Foye, who has 3 orphanages in Haiti housing over 300 children from all ages. We are desperately trying to receive word on how the children in the orphanages are doing and the care givers that work to take care of these children every day. We have heard from a 3rd party that the infant/ toddler orphanage is still standing but have received no word on the other two that are very close to the children's hospital that collapsed."

If you would like to donate to help these orphans, my agency, FEC has created a paypal account to allow those interested in donating to the three orphanages they work with. Anyone who would like to donate can go to http://www.paypal.com/ and click on the "Send Money" page. Enter their email address: donations@foreverychild.org and donate. As a 501c3 organization all donations are tax deductible and every penny will be used to get the supplies needed to their orphanages. Even if you can't donate very much, a little here and there will go a long way! I want you to know that I practice what I preach, so I sent off a generous donation.

Thank you,

Christmas 2009

2010-01-12T20:51:00.011-07:00

I know it's a bit late, but here are some pictures from Christmas 2009.

Being silly old men on Christmas Eve at the Lodge.

I love this picture!

And... the Haul!

We Survived 2009!

2009-12-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of 2009 and I have to admit I am OVERJOYED to be done with this year! Yes, there were high spots in the year, but overall it really stank!
I don't want to come across as a complainer, but here are the reasons why I am glad to be kicking 2009 to the curb:

In late 2008 we bought a new house and moved into it. Tried to sell the old house, but the housing market crashed. Couldn't sell it. Spring of 2009 we moved back to the old house and I know manage the new house at the "Teddy Bear Lodge" for vacationers. I rent it out and clean it etc. It's helping us stay afloat, but it is exhausting and a full time job.
January 2009, Gerry's knees started killing him. He couldn't take the pain anymore and decided it was time to have knee surgeries. He had a birth defect that finally got to the point he could hardly walk. He held off as long as possible. April 2009 - one day after moving back to the old house, Gerry had his first knee surgery and six weeks later his second. Thankfully the surgeries worked and he feels better than ever!
Oct 2009 the highlight of the year - finally getting our baby girl assigned to us! Yeah - after 2.5 years on the waiting list!
One week later Gerry lost his job. Now I must add that this didn't entirely suprise him. He worked this job for almost 20 years. This was our family business and thankfully we sold it 2 years ago. He has been managing it for the new owners. When the economy took a turn for the worse, so did the business. Finally the new owners decided to manage it themselves to save money. We were just hoping he could continue working there until we got the baby home. But, sometimes new jobs = new growth.
Thankfully he got a job 2 days later, but making substantially less. But, in this economy we are thankful to have a job.

So, here we are the last day of 2009 and "WE SURVIVED!"
I know there are lots of worse trials we could have gone through, we've had many of those in the past such as Gerry's brother Rob's accident which left him with brain damage, losing my dad, my mom's stroke and other health problems, etc. Thankfully our kids are healthy and overall happy! They were overjoyed to move back to the old house - next door to their grand parents.

But, this year has left me completely exhausted in almost every regard.

I'm only setting a few goals for 2010 as I'm afraid I'm still going to be very busy with the lodge and blogging on my websites to supplement our income. I'm trusting in God that he knows our situation and will help provide the way to accomplish these goals:

Getting our baby girl home and having the bright spark that only a baby can bring to a home!
Hopefully being able to sell the newer home.
Completely unpacking and getting pictures, etc. back up on the walls of the home we live in to make it a piece of heaven once again.
I hope to work smarter and not harder.
I would like time to exercise 5 days a week.
Time to play with the kids and actually get the laundry put away.
10 minutes a day of spiritual renewal.
Dinner made every night with a plan for dinner each day by 10 a.m.

Can you see a theme? It revolves around finding more TIME for the important things. I want us to enjoy life and not just survive in 2010!

Documents are On Their Way

2009-12-29T11:04:00.003-07:00

Our documents have been state authenticated and have been through TECO. They are now at our agency and are being Fed Ex'd to Taiwan today. Hopefully we will start the court process soon and be able to bring our daughter home in the Spring!
I wish I could show you pictures from our December update, but I am not allowed to until she is legally ours. I must say, she has lots of hair that sticks straight up. Makes me want to put a great big bow in it!
We did get this personality update "she is so cute, and a good eater, she loves to suck her thumb, and interact with others. She is very curious, loves to see picture books. She is active."

A Fun Christmas Song - Enjoy!

2009-12-18T22:28:00.001-07:00

"Silent Monks Singing Halleluia"

Introducing Our Baby Girl (Referral)

2009-12-07T23:16:00.008-07:00

We are happy to announce the referral of our daughter. Tonight we received word that we are finally have orphanage approval and can now announce her to the world.
She is a healthy little bundle of joy and we can't be more excited.
Our referral came on October 23rd. We started this process in January 2007, so it's been a long time coming!
Anyway this is how the referral happened. I was on my way to Denver for a girls weekend with 5 of my girlfriends. We were all meeting at one friend's house loading everything up when I got a call on my cell phone. I was told of a referral, but that there was some conditions. We were able to meet the conditions and it was so exciting! My friends thought something terrible had happened as I was bawling uncontrollably. Fortunately I was able to have pictures emailed instantly and I ran into my friend's house to view them with all of my friends.
Then Gerry called. He wondered what was going on. Our adoption agency called him, but wanted to talk to me. I had no idea they hadn't told him anything. So we shared the moment by phone. Not how I imagined, but exciting anyway! As you can imagine I was a bit distracted all weekend.
So, we went from being so high to my husband losing his job the next week. We pretty much only had a couple of days to get a new job in order to continue the adoption. We prayed and worked like crazy and had a major miracle of being able to get a job in such a short amount of time. Praise the Lord! We have been blessed so much!
Now this family of boys is about to have their world changed forever with the addition of a sister! The timing can't be better as it's Parker's birthday tomorrow. What a beautiful birthday present! Parker is turning 4 and says all of the time, "When is Princess Lea coming home? I can't wait any longer!" I agree and now we know she's on track to come home.
It will take a few months to get through the court process, but we will keep you informed of our progress!
Update- I didn't realize I can't post photos until the adoption is finalized or give out any personal info., so no pictures.

My Thankful List

2009-11-26T06:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
As I reflect back on this past year, wow I must say that it's been the most trying year we have had in many ways! It's can be easy to look at all of the problems and get depressed and discouraged. Yes, we've done some of that, but we are moving forward. However, it could have been worse and I realize we have a lot to be thankful for. So, today here is my thankful list. It's a great reminder to me to count my blessings. I'm thankful for:

Being married to my best friend and wonderful husband.
Four incredibly smart, strong -willed boys (wouldn't trade them for anything)
Thankful that wonderful husband has a job. He lost his job a few weeks ago and thanks to some wonderful connections he was able to get another one quickly.
A nice extended family network.
Great friends that keep us grounded are are always there to lift, encourage and share good times.
Thankful that the house we bought and then couldn't sell our old house (now a vacation rental) is getting some nice ski traffic. This is a big help financially right now.
Thankful we are getting wiser (aka don't buy another home until you sell the old one first.)
Thankful that wonderful husband's two knee surgeries this year were a success and that he is no longer in pain. :)
Thankful for my belief and faith in God. Don't know what other's do without it. God is amazing and I have blessed beyond measure!

I have so many more things to be thankful for, but wanted to remind myself of some of the big ones!

Motivational Thought

2009-11-10T13:04:00.004-07:00

A dear friend of mine gave a talk in church a few years ago that really has stuck with me. The basis was "You are only as good as your recovery!" When life gives you lemons what makes you strong is how to react to the situation. Do you let it discourage you or do you brush yourself off, make a new plan and move forward?

This year has been one of trials and we've gone through many hard times. We are doing our best to have a "good recovery." We keep praying that we are learning all of the lessons we are supposed to learn in order to not repeat them. Sometimes God puts people in your life at different time to help you through the hard times. We have wonderful friends and family and are thankful for your prayers in our behalf as we feel them and they give us strength!

Louis Armstrong In the Making

2009-10-27T22:45:00.012-06:00

Tonight we were privileged to watch Christian's band concert. Not only is he is the band, but he is also in the special Jazz band. He favored us with a solo part in one of my favorite songs "Jimmy Buffet's Volcano". We are very proud of him. Not bad for just his second year playing!

Two and One Half Years and Waiting

2009-10-16T16:06:00.003-06:00

If you will notice the above ticker date, today marks two and a half years of waiting to get a referral. I can't imagine that it will be much longer, but wow, I never envisioned such a wait! Good thing I have plenty of distractions to keep me going. So, here's to wishing upon a star and hoping our little Princess will find her way into our lives soon!

Michaels Coupon

2009-10-14T09:51:00.002-06:00

For those of you who love to craft, today I discovered a printable Michaels coupon to save you 45% off one item. Although it does have some restrictions like- excludes custom floral arrangements, custom frames and materials, and Cricut products. Coupon ends October 31. Anyone up for a trip to Denver?

Free Adoption Digital Scrapbooking Kit

2009-09-21T11:11:00.005-06:00

I don't know why I have wasted so much time over the years doing traditional scrapbooking. Last year my sister-in-law Jennifer told me how easy it to do digital scrapbooking. I bought the
Memory Mixer version 2 (I believe now there's a version 3). I finally pulled it out this last week and it's amazing.
I used it to create a scrapbook page to turn into the header on my Tall Snob Blog. Then I saved the scrapbook page to my computer, uploaded it to Picnik (free photo editing). I needed to crop and resize it to the right size. I loaded it into my blog and it was incredibly easy.
Anyway, I didn't realize how many websites give away free digital scrapbooking elements. Today I found this free Journey of the Heart Adoption Scrapbooking Kit. I had to register as a free user to be able to download it. It comes with a couple of free put together pages that you can drag your picture into. I noticed that the same company has some Asia themed scrapbooking kits that you can purchase.
Here is a big list of free digital scrapbooking kits and elements on About.com.

I'm On My Soap Box

2009-09-18T14:17:00.006-06:00

Pardon me while I jump on my soapbox. In case you missed the Sean Hannity Show last night on Fox news, you may want to watch the video about the water situation in California. I've been watching this situation for a while and I can say that it frightens me deeply that the government can take the water from the farms and divert it to areas that it chooses.
Having grown up in a family that raises fruit, I know the value of water. Without water, crops die and then where are we supposed to get our food? I don't live in California, but I do know that these kinds of governemental actions affect all of us. The food supply affects all of us. If you haven't been paying attention, more and more food is being imported while the United States is producing less each year. Our dependence on other countries causes higher inflation and less ability to control our futures.

Another soap box - How healthy is our food?
We went camping in November and that was the last time we used our motorhome for the Winter. In March we went to use it again, and I discovered a loaf of bread that we had not thrown away. Upon examing the store bought bread, I noticed it was not moldy and was perfectly preserved. I could not believe that there is that many preservatives in one loaf of bread that in 4 months it would not go bad. Seriously, how good could this be for our bodies? This was a huge eye opener to me and we are really trying to eat better and do a lot more cooking from scratch so I can see exactly what I am feeding my family.

Support your local farmer's market. We have spent the last 2 nights canning peaches. Although it takes more effort than buying already canned peaches, it is so worth it! Aren't they gorgeous?

Surviving

2009-09-11T22:11:00.003-06:00

I realize I haven't written a whole lot lately as life has been crazy. We are still here. This is a little of what we have been doing.

Summer ended and it seemed to pass all too fast. The kids are back in school. We didn't really go anywhere very far, but did go camping a couple of times. Our highlight of the Summer was having our best friends/cousins Tim and Annette and family come and visit us for an extended weekend. We had the best time just visiting and hanging out with them. We miss them dearly!

We are still waiting for our baby girl referral. I never imagined that what we thought would be an 8 month wait would now turn into almost 29 months of waiting. It's got to happen soon. Right? I am learning patience (SIGH) ...and trust me that is something that I lack greatly!

We are spending our time finishing off the last room in this house for a bedroom for Jeremiah and working like crazy. Keeping up two houses is hard work! We are also praying like crazy that the other house (the one we lived in for 6 months) sells and that we can be done with that chapter of our life. In the meantime we are just trying to survive financially and the vacation rentals are a bit slow right now, but I'm sure (or I pray) they will pick up for the Winter season. Football season starts soon and we will have two boys playing, so I'm sure that will fill any left over time we have.

I enjoy keeping up with everyones Taiwan adoption blogs. They are very inspiring and we hope to be joining you in the next step of the journey very soon.

Strange Dream

2009-08-31T20:52:00.004-06:00

This weekend I woke up in a panic after I had a strange dream. I dreamed that my local homestudy agent was retiring and I was worried that I won't be able to finish my post-placement adoption appointments, etc.
Well, tonight I got a call from my homestudy agent. I haven't talked to her in months. She was passing through and needed a place to park her van and sleep for the night. Could she sleep in our driveway?
As I visited with her, I flat out asked her if she was retiring? Her jaw hit the floor. Sure enough she had been contemplating it this weekend. I told her my dream and she responded that that was the same day she had felt directed that it was time to retire. We both got goosebumps and she told me that the dream confirmed to her that she should retire. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Anyway, she reassured me that she would finish up with the current adoptions, etc. that are in place, but would not be taking any new clients. It will probably take her a year to retire. Phew! She said 2 families she deals with got babies this week and they weren't expected to get babies for 3-4 months. (domestic adoptions). So, she feel optimistic that our referral will happen soon. Let's hope so! The wait is driving me crazy!

Hair Frugality

2009-08-24T12:14:00.005-06:00

This weekend I did something I have never done. I colored my own hair. This was a huge step for me as my hair is my splurge. I am sick and tired of feeling like I'm getting ripped off every time I get my hair done. The hair places where we live charge an arm and a leg. I have thick hair and they always charge me for double color. So, I pay around $250 every time I go just for a cut and a color. I can the same thing done in Utah for around $80 and the skill level of the hairdressers seem about the same to me.

Some people would say, just skip the coloring. No way! After I had my first child at age 24, my hair all of the sudden got gray spots. I think it may have been due to a 42 hour long labor. Maybe my body got so stressed out that it turned my hair gray. I don't know, but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

So, I have been coloring my hair for a long time and I'm not ready to look like an old lady. My friend told my that she uses "Nice and Easy" hair coloring and I must say it was nice and easy. I think I did a great job matching the color and I'm happy with the results.

This year we are financially strapped and we are challenging all financial purchases. We hardly ever go out to eat anymore, and have cut back in every area possible.

Speaking of hair, I cut all of the boys hair and my husbands. I figure this saves me $75-$100 every time I cut their hair. I have no training other than just by experimenting. They got some pretty scary cuts at first, but I must say that now I'm pretty handy with the scissors.
I'd love to hear your money saving tips and ways that you are cutting back financially.

Typhoon Morakot

2009-08-19T11:54:00.008-06:00

We still have not received our referral, but are waiting anxiously for news at any time. I want to post a few pictures of the devestation Typhoon Morakot left behind. It is a very sad situation. Most of the children that our adoption agency places are from the southern Taiwan area -which suffered the worst devastation. The children already in the orphanage are safe. Since we have not received our referral, I often wonder if the typhoon will somehow affect our own child. Perhaps sadly, it will create more orphans, or perhaps her family or extended family might have been affected by it. I can only pray that the relief agencies will be able to help out as much as possible in a timely manner!

So, here are a few pictures, so I can keep them for her scrapbook.

An aerial view of flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, Taiwan

A man carries a baby as a family is rescued from flooding brought by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, Pingtung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009.

A hotel building leans before falling in a heavily flooded river after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, Taiwan, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009. The six-story hotel collapsed and plunged into the river Sunday morning after floodwaters eroded its base - all 300 people in the hotel had been evacuated and uninjured, officials said.

A girl is carried out from mudslide caused by Typhoon Morakot in Chiashien, Kaohsiung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 10, 2009.

Four-Wheeling Dinner

2009-08-07T21:05:00.008-06:00

Tonight we decided to take a four-wheeling ride up the road. Gerry's knees are finally well enough to go riding. We turned off the road to a remote place that we knew had a fire pit. We didn't know we would have company for dinner.

There was one bull that checked us out for quite a while. We were a bit nervous that he was going to charge us, but finally he went up the hill to join his harem. Whew! They left us many pies - and not the good kind. Eww!

We cooked our hot dogs, and had a great time.

It's great to be riding again!

Guess the Songs

2009-08-06T21:56:00.011-06:00

Lately, I've been noticing funny songs that my kids have sung incorrectly. See if you can guess the songs:

"Cheese my cherry pie." - sung by Ian, Jeremiah and Parker.

"Rock the Cashbox." - sung by Jeremiah

"Give me the BEACH BOYS, and free my soul...." - sung by Jeremiah

Miss You Dad!

2009-07-30T19:23:00.004-06:00

The best day of my life (my wedding) was followed the next day by the worst day of my life (the death of my dad). I miss you Dad. You were my hero and my strength. I take comfort in knowing that we will see you again someday. Until then, you are never forgotten.

Happy 15 Years of Marriage

2009-07-29T16:48:00.003-06:00

I thought I loved you when we got married 15 years ago today. Now I know it was just the tip of the iceberg of how much I love you. I still get giddy when I know you're coming home. Together we have 4 beautiful boys. We have suffered a few blows, but have had many successes and have come through everything stronger. You are truly the greatest husband and the best daddy.
I love you "Rose Man" - you are truly my Handsome Prince.

Summer Randon Pictures

2009-07-26T17:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't written in a while. I always feel like I need something grand to write about, but we're just having a plain old normal Summer.

Baseball took up the first part of the summer. The three oldest boys played and it was so much fun to watch them.
We spent the 4th of July weekend in Salt Lake City. Here is a picture of Gerry with my Mom, our 4 boys and my brother Kameron's 4 boys. My younger brother Devan is standing up behind them. It was my Mom's birthday so we all went out to dinner. The waiter wasn't even scared with having to serve 8 boys age 14 and under- he grew up with five brothers. :)

We got to see the Jonas Brothers at the Stadium of Fire.
We had nosebleed seats and could see them better on the large screen t.v.

We had fun anyway!

My sister-in-law Emily got to sing in the choir. We were surprised when we saw her on the big screen. She is to the left of David Osmond.

Beautiful fireworks.

Changing subjects: It's been a lot of work to keep up two homes and trying to market our other home as a vacation home. Some days we are very hopeful, some days it's very discouraging. One day while driving up to the other house, we took this cool picture. It looked like a window coming out of the clouds. Our town used to be called "Hole in the Sky" by the Ute Indians - believed because it had better weather than the surroundings towns. Often bad weather will skip over us.

This reminds us of "Hole in the Sky".
Our town does something cool every year for the annual town celebration called "Gypsum Daze." They turn this park:

into a rock concert. They built an outdoor stage and bring in a big country band every year. In the past we have hosted "Rascal Flats", "Sawyer Brown" and I can't remember the others. This year we had "Little Big Town." and the "Charlie Daniels Band." Thousands of people attend the concert.

We've also been attending the free Friday night movies in the park. It's like a drive in without the cars.

In other news: nothing on the adoption yet. Gerry is finally finished with all of his physical therapy on his knees. We are looking forward to camping and four-wheeling soon.

26 Months Waiting, But Who's Counting?

2009-06-13T16:50:00.001-06:00

I haven't written much about the adoption lately as basically there is nothing to write. Are we the only ones who have waited 26 months and still not gotten a referral? I know China tends to have waits this long, but for Taiwan this is totally baffling me. So, we wait and continue to hope that it ACTUALLY will happen. It's pretty discouraging lately.

My birthday is this week and a referral would be an awesome birthday present! Hint, hint!

Knee Surgery, A Little Crabby and Donuts

2009-06-07T22:17:00.000-06:00

Today was actually a really nice day! After such a tough week we needed a day to rest and recoup. Gerry had his other knee operation on Monday. The weird thing is that one of our best friend's - Mark had back surgery the same day. It was like a scene from a comic movie when both of these crazy men were walking down the hospital hall holding their i.v.'s and walking towards each other. Karie and I laughed so hard. Here's a picture of Mark visiting Gerry. They were almost roommates, but the hospital wasn't that full, so they got private rooms.

Once we got home, we have dealt with a couple of sick kids this week. Not fun. I may have to take the two oldest to the doctor tomorrow.
So today Gerry stayed home with two kids and I went to church. After church we had a scrumptious meal of crab legs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake. Yummy! Grandma and Grandpa and the missionaries enjoyed it with us. This is what happens when you eat too much crab- you turn into a little crabby!

Then tonight Gerry felt good enough to make homemade donuts. It you make them with half whole wheat, they are not bad for you.. right?

It's hard to believe that Denver had tornadoes today when the weather was pretty nice on this side of the mountain. Pretty scary!

Trying to Make Lemonade

2009-05-26T21:35:00.000-06:00

We feel like we've been dealt an extra load of lemons this year and so we are doing our best to try and turn them into lemonade.

Where do I even start?

Last October we purchased our dream home and moved into it. It was only a 2 mile move, but still the same amount of work as if moving 2,000 miles. A week after we bought the home, it seemed that the economy changed overnight. Up until that point we had been pretty immune to it in our area.

Anyway, our old home that we put on the market wouldn't sell. People wouldn't even come to look at it. The price began to drop on our old home. Several other things happened and all of the sudden it seemed like the perfect financial storm. After lots of prayer, our answer was to move back to the more affordable home and try to sell the new home.

So, after living in the home for about 6 months, we packed up and moved back. The day after we moved all of the heavy furniture, Gerry had surgery on his knee. That left me finishing up the move, etc. I was totally overwhelmed. Thank heavens for great friends and family that helped me through it!

So, we put our dream house on the market and have not been successful in selling it yet. We're even giving away a trip to Hawaii to whoever will buy it, but still no success. In the meantime we are turning it into a vacation home rental. http://www.teddybearlodge.com/ I am busy trying to get it furnished etc. Hopefully, this gamble will pay off.

I know we are very blessed and can't complain as many people have been hurt far more than us with the economy turn. At least we still have a job. We are just doing the best we can and praying that everything will work out the best way possibly.

As far as the adoption, I have not heard anything new in months. We hope we hear something soon!

Our Frugal Spring Break

2009-05-06T19:48:00.000-06:00

This post is only two months late, but I figured better late than never. My kids keep begging me to write about our Spring Break. We were supposed to go to Hawaii, but our economic situation dictated that we had better stay close by and go cheap. So, we went to White Sands with plenty of sand, just no ocean.

However, we had a blast. We love to go camping in the motor home, or "rocket turd" as my kids call it. White Sands is a little known National Park close to Green River, UT. Our friends took us there a few years ago and it has quickly become one of our favorite places. It is hard to find as you exit off of I-70 on a ranch exit dirt road for about an hour. Once you arrive it looks somewhat like Moab. There are hills of sand dunes everywhere. Driving there takes us about 4 hours from our home. On the drive there the wind was blowing so hard that we about got blown off the road. By the first morning the wind had stopped and the temperature was in the low 60's for the entire four days we were there. We put on our jackets and climbed every sand dune we could find, including some that were hundreds of feet tall. The boys love the freedom and I do too!

One of our favorite games was "follow the leader" with the four wheelers. Every day we would take a morning trail drive. The scenery was spectacular- red rocks, wind blown rock formations, beautiful canyons and more. Usually I or Gerry would switch off leading the trail ride. The kids would be in the middle and the opposite parent at the rear. Then we would come back to camp for lunch. The afternoon and evening were spent riding the sand dunes.

I must say that I have become somewhat of a dutch oven chef. Normally I don't enjoy cooking, but I sure do when we are camping! Perhaps it's a change from the normal every day cooking, I don't know, but I enjoy it. The boys beg to have frito chili pie every time we go camping. Dutch oven carmel apple crisp has become my specialty.

I Love This Mother's Day Poem

2009-04-29T14:37:00.000-06:00

One of my best friends- Annie is an amazing woman. She has 4 children and one of them is a special need's daughter. I admire her positive outlook and she has inspired me greatly. Annie's oldest daughter wrote a special Mother's Day poem that is in a contest. I'd like to share it here:

The Desired Career
by: Katie Riley

Oh, what I desire most,
to have that wonderful job,
The proudest job there could ever be,
I hear it has the best of pay,
and lots of benefits.

I don't see why everyone thinks,
it is so horrible,
sure they clean and clean,
and clean some more,
but that's not all they do,
what about all the smiling they do?
Sure there's ups and downs,
but don't all jobs have that?

I dream and dream,
of what it would be like,
to have that job when I am old,
how wonderful it might be,
as well as it is not,
but I don't linger on the negatives,
just on the positives.

All the proud moments,
from reading a fairy tale,
to watching one come true,
from watching inductions,
to watching graduations.

Oh, what I desire most,
to have that wonderful job,
The proudest job there could ever be,
I know it has the best of pay,
and tons of benefits,
but what job in the world,
would I have in mind?

Not one that pays a billion dollars,
the one that pays a billion smiles,
not one that keeps me away from home,
the one that keeps me at home.

I want to have that wonderful job,
where I get to be called "Mommy".

Isn't it great? If you love this poem, you can vote for it by clicking here: and vote for #29.

With Mother's Day coming up, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite videos called "The Ultimate Mom to Do List Song" by Hillary Weeks

Pandemic Prep

2009-04-24T17:36:00.001-06:00

Over the last few years, we have been building up our food storage supplies. I feel pretty confident that we could take care of ourselves for quite a while if for many reasons we may not be able to purchase food.

One thing that is often overlooked is building up supplies in case of a pandemic flu outbreak. Today there is a new threat of the "swine virus. " I'm not trying to spread panic, but I have been following pandemic news for a few years now and it may not be this flu that causes a huge pandemic, but most experts agree that there will be a widespread pandemic at sometime in the future.
It reminded me to order more N95 masks. The N95 masks are certified to block flu viruses. If there is ever a worldwide pandemic, I want to be prepared to protect myself and my family for a few months at a time. I have slowly been buying supplies of masks about every other month as they are not very cheap. I found that Emergency Essentials has the adult size masks on sale. I have looked for child size masks for some time and the best I can find so far are from Med on the Net. I haven't received these child masks to see their quality yet, but I want disposable masks and not resuable ones, as to not spread the disease.
A website that I recommend for learning how to deal with a pandemic is call The Totally Ready Blog.

Happy Birthday Jeremiah

2009-04-19T22:10:00.000-06:00

Today is Jeremiah's birthday. I can't believe he is now 10. He is one sweet boy and I'm so thankful to have him as a son.
Last night we went out to dinner and to see "Mosters vs. Aliens." This is the rundown of his day. We attended church in the morning. For lunch I fixed him his favorite meal - ribs and corn on the cob. Then hanging out all afternoon. This evening we went over to Grandma's house for cake and icecream. This included a party with the local aunts, uncles and cousins. One funny note, we gave his his own super size can of Pringles chips. He giggled so much. Jeremiah is a salt addict and was just as happy to receive a can of chips as any other present.
It may not have been the most eventful day as we were trying to celebrate, but still honor the Sabbath Day. However, tomorrow is a day off of school, so they just may have to breakout the four-wheelers for a ride around the yard!

Look What "The April Fool" Left Us

2009-04-01T09:36:00.000-06:00

Ever since I can remember "The April Fool" has been putting breakfast on our tree on April 1st. This morning his left us chocolate milk and pop tarts. Other years he has left us yogurts and spoons. It's a fun morning!

I'm a Proud Mother

2009-03-21T23:08:00.000-06:00

The last few days have been amazing. My kids have really done great and now it's time to brag on them a little. First off, Ian was an awesome "Billy Goat Gruff" in his fairy tale plays at school!

Next we had the the Pinewood Derby. Jeremiah raced a green camo hummer. Locally, he won 1st place in our cub scout troop.Then today, he went to the District level and won 1st place for his age group and 3rd overall against all the age groups. Next month he is going to the Council Race.

Christian was awarded the "Creative Mind" award during his school award's assembly for excellence in Science. He must get it from his dad, because I never enjoyed Science.

We found Parker practicing to be a store window display.

I love my boys and am proud of the great young men they are becoming!

Our Mini "Amazing Race"

2009-03-15T21:33:00.000-06:00

Saturday night was our friend Yvonne's 40th birthday party and it was a riot! We had a scavenger hunt with husbands vs. wives. There were 6 couples. We drove around our small town for 1 hour and 15 minutes completing the tasks. We had to take pictures everywhere we went. The husbands won. Dang it! The women finished on time and the men decided to go for style and creativity, thus gaining them more points.

Task- I can't believe we all fit. Can you believe 6 guys got in an outhouse, while we chose a pizza booth?

Task- Take picture in front of a road sign. We picked the same sign.

Task- picture with someone in a uniform - no police. Team Dudes chose a prisoner. Team Chicas nabbed the Domino's pizza guy.

Task- Spell out a word with your bodies. Team Dudes spelled out "40" for Yvonne's 40th birthday. Team Chicas spelled out "Hi".
There were so many more fun pictures, but these were the best! I think that was one of the most fun nights I have had in my life. Picture 6 men or women running through the grocery store to weigh in 4 lbs of lemons. Or, team Chicas chasing down someone in an old car to have them pull over so we can take our picture in the old car. Team Dudes went to a junk yard and got in an old smelly car and took their picture and then had to speed away as the drunk owner of the junkyard came out after them.
Team Chicas also broke into some one's back yard to take a picture on a trampoline while wearing Burger King crowns. The owners didn't answer their door, so we snuck around to their backyard for the good of the team. Lisa, a lawyer was a bit leery of this as she can't practice law if she gets a criminal conviction. (Small sacrifice).

By the way, can you see that Batman is taking this picture?
After "The Amazing Race" we prepared a fondue dinner. Then we went to the Ritz Carleton in Beaver Creek for a specially prepared cake! It was an incredible night with some of the best friends anyone could ever have!

Updating Our Homestudy

2009-03-13T20:12:00.000-06:00

The news on the adoption front is that we are still waiting. I am hopeful as our agency has told us to get everything in our home study updated. This is good and bad news. Good news in that perhaps we are getting closer to a referral (child assignment). Bad news in that updating everything is a tremendous amount of work. So, basically I am working overtime to get the required doctor visit documents, finger prints, child abuse background checks, police clearances done and much, much more. What a drag!
It is estimated that we will receive our referral within 6 months. It better. I never dreamed we would be over 2 years when we started this process. Adoption is not for wimps!

We're going to see the Jonas Brothers!

2009-03-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

We just bought our 4th of July tickets to the stadium of fire in Provo, Utah. I know it's early, but the Jonas brothers are performing and this will sell out quickly. The tickets went on sale last night and I forgot to order them until today. We are sitting in the nose bleed section, but are just excited to be going. Last year they had Miley Cyrus and it was a blast! My boys are really excited.

22 Months of Still Waiting

2009-02-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have made it to the 22 month mark of waiting for a referral and still nothing. In fact, I feel like I know absolutely nothing as far as where I am on the wait list or have any idea of when a referral might occur. Hopefully some people out there are getting babies so that we can move closer to the top of the list!

Wishing you "Aloha" This Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

Gerry sent my this gorgeous Hawaiian flower arrangement for Valentine's Day. Hawaiian flowers are my favorite and this stunning! What a sweetheart! We're getting ready to go snowmobiling with our friends in a few minutes, but now it is snowing a blizzard. Hopefully thoughts of Hawaii will keep me warm for a few minutes.

"Mommy, You Were Amazing."

2009-02-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

It's time I get my buns in gear and get rid of my extra Winter layer of fat. I've spent too much time working on my websites and not enough time working out. So, today I turned on my favorite "Firm" workout with weights and starting working out. My 3 year was amused and starting doing it too. After a while he just watched me. These are some of his comments.
"Wow, that was easy for you."
"Mommy, you were amazing."
"Mommy, I love your hair."
I sure love that boy. He deserves a trip to the toy store!!!

My Crazy Boys

2009-01-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today my new Flip Mino HD Camcorder arrived. I am having all kinds of fun with this gadget. Here is our first movie made with the boys and yes, they understand they don't climb on the bear.

Touching Base With a Childhood Friend

2009-01-20T16:15:00.001-07:00

What a surprise. Today I got an email from a childhood friend. My friend Amy and I were best friends when we were kids. We played together almost daily climbing the mountain outside our homes, jumping on the trampoline and going to Jazzettes - dance team. I'm guessing it's been 20 years since I have heard from her. Thank goodness for Facebook as she found me from one of our friends. Hi Amy- glad you found me.

21 Months of Waiting for a Referral

2009-01-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes today marks 21 months of waiting for a referral of a baby girl. A little humor - I feel like this picture of a dieting woman chasing the chocolate covered carrot. I know we will somehow, someday get our daughter, but I am sure getting tired of waiting.

My Cousin's Adoption Story

2009-01-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

My cousin Glenda and I have been trying to adopt at the same time. It has been fun to be going through the same experience with a family member. She was able to adopt a baby from the USA. Here adoption story is pretty unique in that it all happened during Hurricane Gustav and was a pretty scary experience.
I got to meet little Mason over the holidays and I just love him to death. Anyway read about her adoption story titled Newspaper article: Through hail and high water, professor rushes to adopt Louisiana baby

Today I Just Entered 13 Blog Posts

2009-01-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

So, I have been a horrible blogger and one of my resolutions for this year is to keep up on this blog. I just went back and entered 13 posts of the highlights from last year. So, if you want to know what we've been up to, take a glance. I also noticed that I think I need a new camera, especially before we head to Taiwan (please let it be this year). So, if anyone has suggestions of a really great camera, please put it in my comments.

Decorating the Home for Christmas

2009-01-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

I love my new home and am really pleased with how the Christmas decorations look in the new home.

The view from the loft.

No loft is complete without a Hawaiian Christmas tree and a Mele Kalikimaka sign.

Agnus and Clyde.

The tree and the mantle.

My little trees and entryway.

My coffee table and a close up of my bows.

Parker Turns 3

2009-01-06T16:22:00.001-07:00

Parker turned 3 just before Christmas. He is such a sweet boy. We had a birthday party with Sara and family, Dick and Luanne, Debbie and Randy and grandma Luci was here as she visited us for a month.

December 2008 Pictures in our New Home

2009-01-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to be in our new home. One day after church we took these cute pictures. It is not often that I get all four boys this clean and happy at one time!

Jack O' Lanterns 2008

2009-01-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

With moving right before Halloween, we were really lucky to get our pumpkins carved. I think each year they get better than the year before.

Fall Football 2008

2009-01-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

This Fall was incredibly crazy. I had 3 boys playing football on the same nights in 3 different fields and one was in another town. Talk about going nuts. It was also a lot of fun. I was not a football fan, but have become converted. It was the first year any of my boys played and they did really well! I wish I had taken more pictures, but some times their games were at the same time which was really confusing.

Christian #55 blue

Jeremiah in black.

Ian playing Ultimate football in orange on right.

Utah Peace Officers Memorial Sept 2008

2009-01-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

In September of 2008, the Utah Peace Officers Memorial was dedicated. I was able to attend the ceremony. My dad died in the line of duty and it is a beautiful monument that will forever remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

My nephew Jackson standing by my dad's flag.

Each one of these peace officers represents a peace officer that died in the line of duty in Utah.

Riding the ATVs at Camp Hale July 2008

2009-01-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great summer riding the 4 wheelers. One of our favorite spots is Camp Hale. My kids love it because Grandma lived at Camp Hale when she was a little girl. There is also lots of pieces of the buildings there and the boys feel like they are uncovering the past.

The 4 boys riding down the road.

This is how I rough it!

My Birthday June 2008

2009-01-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

My boys were really sneaky the day before my birthday. They had something planned and all I knew is that I wasn't allowed to go into the backyard or look out the window. On the morning of my birthday they all came to get me because they had a surpise for me. What a surprise it was! They had taken the weed eater and cut the grass back to write "Happy Birthday Mom". I was quite stunned and I thought it was perfect! What a fun greeting card. It's hard to see from the picture, but it's there.

Family Vacation Orlando 2008

2009-01-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation to Orlando in June of 2008. We were priviledged to have Grandma and Grandma along with us. This is the first time we have taken a vacation with them. We had a great time and made wonderful memories. We went to Disney World and took a day to go the Kennedy Space Center. We have been to Disney World many times and I forget to take pictures. Darn! The only bad thing was that it was incredible hot and humid!

The Magic Kingdom

Animal Kingdom Park

Kennedy Space Center

End of School Concert 50's Style

2009-01-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of school concert for their musical pictures, they were to dress up 50's style. Don't they look cute? This is the last time all 3 of the olders boys were to be in elementary school together.

All boys taking a picture before the concert.

Jeremiah gets his Wolf in Cub Scouts

2009-01-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

In May of 2008, Jeremiah passed off his wolf for cub scouts. We were so proud of him. One of the traditions is to paint his face and then he paints ours.

Jeremiah getting his face painted.

.
Jeremiah painting the white stripe down my face.

Dad's white stripe- we need to teach him to smile in pictures.

Ian's Birthday May 2008

2009-01-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ian turned 6 in May. He had one of the best birthday parties ever. We did a Star Wars theme birthday party and had everyone dress up as their favorite character. One of the highlights of the party is that we gave all of them homemade light sabers. We cut a pool noodle in half and then a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe in one end. Then we wrapped electrical tape around it so that the kids would have a handle on their light sabers. At one point everyone went in the backyard to fight "Darth Vader" -a.k.a. Dad. It was a hit.

All the kids beating up Darth Vader with their light sabers.

All of our Star Wars friends.

Ian's Star Wars cake with Darth Vader talking head on it.

Ian got Star Wars figures at the family birthday party.

I've Been a Bad Blogger

2009-01-06T13:40:00.001-07:00

I've had pictures in my camera for over 6 months now. I finally got them off my camera and I want to post some of the highlights for this past year, so you will find a bunch of separate blog post. I figure better late than never.

Lesson Learned - Sometimes It's Best to Stay on the Sidewalk

2008-12-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Friday was a busy day. We loaded everything in our car to head to Utah to take mom home and go to a wedding. We were ready to leave as soon as the boys were done with school. Christian was in a geography bee at the middle school and so we had made arrangements for the 2 elementary school boys to walk the 1 block to the middle school to meet us there. They were supposed to arrive around 3 p.m. When they didn't arrive I went outside to look for them. A few minutes later Gerry went out to look for them, but still now sign of them.
We concluded they must have forgotten to come to the middle school and had taken the bus. That would give us 20 minutes before they were home.
Unfortunately, Christian missed his question and was eliminated from the competition. We raced home, but the boys were not there. We left mom there to call us if they arrived. We headed back towards to the schools and called the elementary school - no sign of the boys. I began to panic. Had they been abducted?
As we passed by the middle school our friend Heather began honking and waving ferociously. Thank heavens she had the boys in her minivan. She explained what happened.
Apparently, the boys decided it would be more fun to walk off the sidewalk in the snow. Jeremiah's leg fell in a deep hole- possibly an animal den. He couldn't get out. He sent his little brother for help. Little brother flagged down our friend Heather who was driving past them. After a great struggle she was able to get Jeremiah's leg out, but had to go home to get a shovel to dig out the boot. Jeremiah's leg was pretty numb and we are lucky he didn't get frost bite.
So, my boys learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes the clear and straight path may not be as fun to travel, but in the end it may prove to be the safest way to go.

20 Months of Waiting for a Referral

2008-12-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks 20 months of waiting for our baby girl referral. I find myself very emotional today. Mainly because I am very frustrated with how long this adoption process is taking. At the beginning of the month, we were given a new estimate of another 4 months until referral. It is hard to really trust this timeline as it has changed so many times. We have spent so much money and spent so much time getting paperwork redone, etc. due to the long process. It's exhausting. I think the holidays also bring out the longing to have our baby girl.
It also appears that I will most likely need to get a part-time job until our other house sells. That is killing me as I don't want to leave Parker. He is such a sweet boy. Gerry's work is not paying what they told us they would, so money is tight. I most likely will do substitute teaching as it is more flexible. This will allow me to be home when the other kids get out of school- as to not have to pay more daycare.
I realize we are more fortunate than most and so I don't want to appear ungrateful. I'm just a little down and discouraged. I've worked my tail off for the last 2 years trying to get Tall Clothing Mall to make a decent wage, but Internet marketing is really competitive and hard. I will continue to run it- as I still believe I offer a great service.
It has snowed a ton the last few days and will continue to snow the rest of the week. It is beautiful to have a white Christmas, but boy is it cold -12 degrees this morning. Brrr.
Today also marks my parent's anniversary. Mom is still visiting us. I know she is totally bored and ready to go home this weekend. I also miss my dad. I was such a daddy's girl. I miss his gentle yet wise advice.

I Started a new Online Deals Blog

2008-12-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right, I started another blog. Don't tell my family (just kidding). Part of the way I am raising money for my adoption is through my websites. I come across some really great deals along the way and so I decided to start a new blog for general online deals. Introducing Krista's Deals.

Parker's Birthday

2008-12-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Parker turned 3. Up until his birthday he kept telling us he didn't want a birthday and that he didn't want to get bigger. Neither do I. I was trying to get him excited about his birthday and I finally told him he was having a party and that Max, his cousin, would be coming over and maybe they would bring presents. That did the trick!
He started jumping up and down and going crazy. "Presents, presents, presents. I love presents." So he finally accepted that it was fine to be 3 as long as there are presents. Now on to potty training. (trying to control my excitement). Yippee Skippy.

Adoption Phrases Scrapbook Deal of Day Deal

2008-12-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd let you know about a great deal at GraveyardMall.com. On their home page they have the deal of the day and you can choose from 4 scrapbook assortments. Craft Assortment #2 has a piece in it called "Adoption Phrase Cafe Classic ". This might be good for our adoption scrapbooks. It is going today for $8.99 compare at $62.25

Update 4/1/09. This item is still available and is now only $6.99 search for (Craft Assortment #2) or (adoption).

Below are some other adoption scrapbook items you make like:

If anyone else knows any great places to get adoption scrapbooking supplies, please put it in the comments below.

I am Filled with Gratitude

2008-11-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have Thanksgiving here in our new home. Gerry's sister and family came over and mom is now here for a month. I picked her up last week. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with how comfortable this house is for entertaining. It was wonderful and I am patting myself on the back for pulling off my first Thanksgiving dinner. We have been married 14 years and I have never had to make it. On the years we stay in Colorado I have always been assigned the veggie tray. No brainer there. On the years we are in Utah, I usually just help my mom with her cooking. So it was actually quite fun for me to get in there and and have a nice dinner at home.
I have so much to be thankful for this year. Our health, family, good friends, nice home and just a great feeling of peace. As I sit here thinking about my boys, I am overcome with emotion. I love them so much and they seem to be growing up so much daily. Some days I feat they don't know how much I love them as life gets cruising along so fast that we need to learn to take pleasure in the simple moments. They are my life and I don't know what I'd do without them. Gerry is the most patient, loving husband anyone could ever want and I am so incredibly blessed to be married to him.
Tonight we put up the Christmas tree and it looks amazing! I'll see if I can take some pictures tomorrow. Next week Nickie is coming to help me decorate the banister and make bows. I think mom is enjoying her stay here. I do think she gets a tad bit bored as she lives in the fast paced city and life is a bit more leisurely here.

Today Marks 19 Months of Waiting for a Baby Girl Referral

2008-11-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today marks 19 months of waiting for referral of a baby girl. I can't believe how long it is taking. When we first started this process we thought it would be around 6-9 months. There's got to be a baby girl for us soon!
Both Gerry and I woke up today sick. We were in so much pain that we went to Instacare as it's the only place open on Sunday. Gerry has a raging ear infection and I have strep throat. Fun for us! I'm just glad it held out until today as we have been working so hard to get our old home on the market. Yesterday it was listed. What a relief!
I feel like I live in a whirlwind lately. Tonight we need to haul all our furniture in the main room into the garage. We are having the wood floor finished as the previous owners never did it. The wood floor guy can only work in the evenings so the great room will be blocked off for a week. I pick up my mom next weekend and bring her back her for a month, so we are trying to get the house ready for the holidays.
In the downstairs room where she will be staying, I peeled off the ugly wallpaper and underneath the drywall was never textured. Luckily I got someone in here yesterday to do that. Now I need to get that room painted so we can get it ready for her. We feel so blessed to be in this house, but I am ready for a long rest.