Let's Hear It For My Boys!!!

Well two great things happened this week. First, my little Zac turned 4!!!! Happy Birthday papa! He hasn't had his party yet, but that will happen next weekend when we go visit our family. But we did celebrate by going to Gatti Town (a pizza/video game joint), then out for icecream and to the local park. We had a great time, but when we were going home I asked him if he had fun, and he said, "Well what about my big party?". That's my son for ya! He'll have his party next week, but he's not liking the waiting very much(I think he gets this from his momma!).

Second, my Danny is finally a business owner!!! Yes, we finally signed and closed on our clinic and it is finally OURS!!!! Family Health Chiropractic, located in West Lake, is our office, so if any of you living in Austin need a Chiropractor (actually everyone needs a chiropractor) then come on over. I'm so proud of Danny and so happy that one of his dreams has finally come true. It's been a long road to this point and even with all the bumps along the way, he's managed to stay focused and strong for this family. He's an amazing husband, father and doctor and I look forward to starting this new journey with him.

Also, now that we have the business, that makes us one step closer to Maia. It looks like we are on track for starting our homestudy come early June! Yeah!

Why does Patience have to be SO HARD!!!

I haven't written in a while because I don't have adoption "news" like most other PAP's. Actually, I don't even know when we can start our "process" and this is very frustrating and depressing. What's making it worse is that I keep seeing more and more people inquiring about Vietnam adoptions, and although I should be happy that there is so much interest, I can't help but feel selfish. With the wait times increasing so much I feel like by the time we finally start I will be put on this huge waiting list, and we will have to wait over a year like some people. I can't imagine this. We've been wanting to adopt a baby for so long but it seems like LIFE keeps getting in the way. This week I actually started thinking about "having" a baby, thinking that might be a better "easier" way of getting a baby quickly. We aren't opposed to having another bio child, but I did have a complicated pregnancy due to having complete placenta previa, which resulted in a month of complete bed rest, severe bleeding, 3 weeks in the hospital on bed rest, more severe bleeding, emergency c-section at 34 weeks( 1 1/2 months early), and finally a premature beautiful baby boy who stayed in the NICU for 3 weeks! Oh, I forgot to mention the horrible gas pains due to the c-section and recovery! So needless to say, I'm really scared about going through this again, oh and then there's STRETCH MARKS!(Vain, I know) But, I did love being pregnant and would love having that experience again, but I just don't think that that's how our next child is going to come about. I've been praying a lot about this, asking for guidance, and today I think it finally hit me. My Maia is in Vietnam! Every time I think about our next child I have this vision of this tiny asian little girl, with a short bob haircut and big brown deep eyes. And every time I think of her my heart flutters and aches all at the same time. When I was pregnant with our son, and before I knew it was going to be a son, I kept having these dreams and visions of this little boy sleeping, and every time I would picture this little boy my heart would flutter and ache all at the same time, and that's when I realized that that was my son. And when I had my first ultrasound comfirming we were having a boy, it just confirmed to me what I had already knew because I had already had visions of him. And I finally realized that this is happening again. The reason I keep seeing this specific little girl is because THIS IS my little girl, and everyday I grow more and more attached to her and I can't let that go. Last night Danny said something that really put things into prespective for me. I was telling him that I was becoming worried because the wait times keep getting longer and longer, and he said, "No matter how long or short it takes, that's what's in God's plan for us. How can we be worried or upset about that, if that was his plan?" Now let me just say that I hate when he puts me in my place, but that is also why I love him so much! And he's right, and God is definately right so how can I be upset with that. Right this second is not the right time for us. But I do have this strong feeling and voice telling me to hold on for just a bit longer and that it's just around the corner. So here I wait, holding on PATIENTLY, trusting that God's plan is an even greater plan than I could ever imagine!

Easter Time!

Well we are back from our Easter holiday, and we had a great time. Zac was especially excited about "Easter Time" (as he likes to call it) because he knew he would be getting Easter basket'S, as in plural! I figured he would get around 3 but the kid cashed in with 5 Easter baskets! Talk about lots of toys and CANDY, which we don't let him eat often, so he was in candy heaven! (Shhh don't tell him but we threw most of the candy away!hehehe) He is so spoiled, and in two weeks it's his birthday and he will get even more toys and candy, and he can't wait! This is why we really don't buy him alot of toys during the year. He gets soooo much stuff for Christmas, then sooo much stuff for his birthday that it really lasts him all year long!

This past weekend was also really great because we got to tell our extended family about our adoption. Our parents knew but the rest of our family didn't so it was fun to tell them. Everyone seemed pretty excited for us and they asked lots of questions, which I wasn't expecting. I guess it's because I really wasn't expecting to tell anyone, but my mom told everyone the news and then we were bombarded with questions, which caught me off guard. But in the end everyone was really supportive and excited.

Some other real exciting news is that we may be closing on our business soon. We got a call today saying that it could possibly happen as soon as Friday, so we are so excited. This has been a very stressfull process and we can't wait for it to be over so we can start moving forward, especially with this adoption. So hopefully we can get our homestudy started in May, just like I wanted, and maybe baby Maia by Christmas!?! Hopefully! I know this is wishful thinking but I have faith, and referrals seem to be coming fast. So fingers crossed!

fyi- Those pics are of 3 of the 5 baskets he received. Check out the pic with my mom and the basket she gave him, she had a hard time closing it cuz it was so full!

I HATE MY YARD!!!!!!

Ok, I will first say that I love living in our new home and living here in Austin. We just moved here a couple of months ago from Dallas and we are loving it here. But I HATE the ground here! I never had this problem at our old home so it has to be the Austin ground! I guess because this is "hill country" the ground have LOTS of rocks or what I call "caliche". For those who don't know spanish that means gravel, I think. So basically the ground around our home is GRAVEL! Or so it seems to me, and this is why I think my flowers are dying! When we first moved into this house the landscaping in the front of the house was dead, so I decided to plant new plants and flowers. I was so proud of myself because this was the first time I had ever planted flowers or did any landscaping, and it was tough! (Our old house came with landscaping so I never had to worry about this.) What made it tough was that the more I dug the more rocks I came across. So I took out as many rocks as I could and put in some top soil and planted away. When I was done it looked great. I had bushes, bushes with flowers, monkey grass and cute yellow flowers. I was so proud! Then slowly they started dying, except for the monkey grass, and now it looks like crap. What's making it worse is that the neighbor's yard across the street looks fantastic! Although, he is a professional landscaper so he should have a nice yard! But still, it puts mine to shame. On top of this, we have two different grasses growing in our front and back yard! How? you ask. Well it's totally our fault. We bought seed to plant in the yard because it looked like the grass was dying (we now know it was only dormit) but we bought the WRONG seed. Laugh, I know you want to! So basically we have patches of two TOTALLY different grasses all over our yard. I really don't know what to do about any of it, because all of it needs to be redone, and that's a whole lot of work that I really don't want to do. Maybe I should hire the neighbor! hehe

Oprah I love you BUT.....

You really upset me with the show you had on yesterday. One of the segments was on the new HPV vaccine, which is recommended for young girls. I have been well aware of this new vaccine for some time now, especially since our Governor Rick Perry has mandated that ALL girls entering the 6th grade must get the vaccine next year. Fortunately, we are in the process of over turning this mandate! Actually, I've been aware of this vaccine for a long time because Merck has had those "One Less" commercials on every station for the past year. Actually, Merck aired the "One Less" commercial first, without the vaccine information, for a long time in order to scare young girls about getting cervial cancer. Then, after months of scaring young girls and parents, TaDaa they have a vaccine that will "protect" you from getting cervical cancer. How convenient! I'm sure you can tell that I'm not a big fan of this vaccine, or any vaccine for that matter, and I'm especially not a big fan of pharmaceutical companies who make BILLIONS off of getting people sicker. But of course this is just my opinion!

Anyway, Oprah had this show yesterday and she had this "expert" who was there to give you all the reasons why this vaccine is so great. I absolutely LOVE and ADORE Oprah and LOVE her show because in my opinion she is always right on. Well, that was until yesterday. Why didn't she have someone on the show to give the other side of the story. About how most women with HPV infections do not develop cervical cancer. Usually the infection disappears without any treatment, because the woman’s immune system has been successful in fighting the virus. About how cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable cancers, and how the cervical cancer death rate has declined by 74% between 1955 and 1992, in large part due to the effectiveness of Pap smear screening and the death rate continues to decline each year. Or about how 60% and 80% of American women with newly diagnosed invasive cervical cancer have not had a Pap smear in the past 5 years, and many of these women have never had a Pap test. In fact, most invasive cervical cancers are found in women who have not had regular Pap tests. Why didn't she tell people this! Most people have or have had HPV just like most people have Herpes (if you've had a cold sore then you have Herpes!). People get "things", but THE POWER THAT CREATES THE BODY, ALSO HEALS THE BODY, and we fight it off! If you're unhealthy and don't take care of the body that God gave you then things happen and you get sick. So stay healthy! There's NO need to inject toxins into your body. Like my husband always says, "When can man EVER make things BETTER than GOD!"

FYI- Most statistics I got were from the "American Cancer Society"

Our Little Dancing Photo Shoot

Make your own | Click to play

Ok, I know this is silly but I am a HUGE "Dancing With the Stars" fan, as is Zac. He actually loves watching the show and dances all over the room when it's on. Actually we both dance around the room! hehehe!! Any way, Good Morning America is hosting a "Dancing With the Moms Challenge" and I've decided to enter. I know, what are the chances of ME getting picked, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. Well, I needed a picture of me to enter the contest so I decided to take a few pics with Zac and I in dancing attire. My aunt owns a wedding gown store so we went to her shop and played dress up for the day. Zac actually loved wearing his tuxedo and he looked just adorable in it!

Patience is a Virtue

Well it's been a while since I've posted, mainly because there isn't anything to discuss on the adoption front. We haven't "officially" started because we are waiting to get our practice up and running. This has been very frustrating, especially for Danny. I've been a stay at home mom for the past 4 years, so being at home and sometimes bored is really common for me, but for him, this has really been a struggle. It's been 4 months since we first started the paperwork to buy this clinic and we still aren't done! When we first started I guess we were a bit naive to think that this would go smoothly and quickly. Well we were wrong! It's been a very bumpy road and we still don't have a definate close date! They say early April, so hopefully they're right. The sooner we close on the business, the sooner we can start on our adoption paperchase! This whole buying a business thing is really like adopting; lots of paperwork, lots of waiting and lots of patience and prayers! Amen!

Zac, our almost 4 year old adorable son, has really kept us busy during all this waiting. I also think this time has really spoiled him. Since daddy has been home these past couple of months, he's really gotten used to having both of us here at home. If Danny leaves to go and do something he wines and waits very un-patiently till he gets home. He's never done this with Danny mainly because Danny was always working so he was used to seeing his daddy leave and then come back. I think it's cute and love that Zac has gotten so attached to his Daddy. They were close before, but I can definately see a difference in their relationship. Before, Zac was a huge momma's boy, and although he still is, he's definately turned into a daddy's boy and that's awesome.

On the adoption front, there isn't much to tell. I think we have decided on the agency World Child for our adoption. With so many to choose from and with all the varied timeframes, it was really difficult to decide on one. But, WC has been great about getting back to me with information and the people whom I've talked to have said nothing but great things, so I think our decision is final. Also, I've been really taking what The Secret teaches, and have been applying it. I really believe in visualizations, and believe this allows you to get what you want. For me, the more I visualize and think about Maia (that's what we have decided to name her) the closer I feel to her, and the closer I am to getting her. The way I see it, the more I think about her in our lives, the more proactive I become, which allows me to get to her faster! I bought the cutest dress the other day and I have it hanging on our dresser. Every time I wake up, every time I go to sleep, and every time I walk by it I think of her, and this makes me feel that much closer to her. Silly? Maybe. But it works for me.