Let's talk about fun things

I've been pretty down the last 2 days with the drama that unfolded and then getting so sick. I'm finally feeling much better. I still can't seem to eat much, 7-up and Saltine crackers are my friend right now. I think I might actually leave the house today! I'm excited about that.

I don't really want to talk about the last couple days or my emotions right now so let's talk about some fun things. Next week I've got 2 cake tastings scheduled for upcoming wedding cakes. I'm very excited about this. This is when I'll figure out exactly what the brides want in their design and the 'vision' starts to really come together.

Another fun thing to talk about is how amazing I've been feeling!...well minus the last 2 days. I think this crazy diet thing is really working. My pain level has dramatically diminished. The month before I saw Dr. R I was having 2-3 endo pains an hour. Now, I have maybe 6 per month. BIG difference. I've also lost 16 pounds! Crazy. This stomach virus helped with the last 2 pounds...but I'll still count it! Chase has lost 17 pounds. We went to Ross the other night and Chase picked out a cute outfit for me. We guessed on the size of shorts because I didn't have time to try them on and they fit perfectly. This is 2 sizes smaller than 3 months ago!

Chase and I have been learning a TON about parenting recently. We've been reading The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis, who I've mentioned before, and it has been giving us a lot of great information. It is specific to parenting children who come from 'hard places' but many of the principles are relevant to biological children as well. I would HIGHLY recommend it for every parent.

Twins Update

I wish I could say that everything went as planned and we picked up the twins this morning...but alas, it did not go as planned. Without going into a lot of details, there is a chance we could still get them but it doesn't look good. My biggest concern is for the girls' safety. Please pray for them.

I woke up in the middle of the night and quickly realized I have caught the stomach virus mom, sister, and nephew had. It was/is nasty! I didn't sleep much last night but I was able to read about 1/2 a book while I hung out in the bathroom....productive sickness :) I'm doing a little better this evening but still running a decent fever. Chase is also under the weather...we are pretty pathetic right now.

We ran to Target last night to pick up a few necessities for the twins. We didn't take anything out of their packages and kept the receipts. Apparently that was a smart decision. We are really bummed and sad. My perspective on this entire process is that I'll believe it when I'm holding kids in my arms and taking them home. It's tough though. Nothing is for certain. Oh how I long to be 'normal' and have a 'normal' pregnancy but more then that, I long to be exactly where the Lord wants us and have the family the Lord wants us to have. Sorry for the raw emotions but that's where I'm at this evening.

Kiddo's TOMORROW!

Few! Just got a call from MCH asking if we could take 2...I said 2! 2 yr old twins!!!! And the crazier thing is that we said YES! They didn't know much nor the adoption status but they needed as answer asap. We'll most likely pick them up tomorrow MORNING! I know, I'm using a lot of capitals but that's pretty much how I feel at the moment.

I'll let you know more when I know more...probably tomorrow evening sometime. And again, I can't post pictures which I'm really bummed about. Thanks for you prayers...we could really use them right now.

Extra Time with Martin

My sister was suppose to leave yesterday. After checking in at the airport, she quickly realized she was sick....sick sick sick. Poor thing. Due to the swine flu outbreak, she was able to change her flight for no fee which was great! She had a rough night last night and then she called me this morning and said my mom was really sick too! They were both too weak to take care of Martin so I came over and picked him us. It's been fun having him over here today. He is such an adorable and fun baby. Here are some pic's from his time with us.

I'm sad sister and mom are so sick but it's been fun having some extra time with my nephew!

Cakes, Baby M, and Update

We got our fun new camera in last Friday. We've (actually it's more like Chase) been reading the manual and learning all about the many buttons. I think we've got the basics down, f-stop, shutter speed, iso ect. but there is still so much to learn.

Cakes: I've done 2 cakes over the last couple days so here are their pics.

Baby M: My sister is visiting from Phoenix for the week. She brought her precious 14 month old with her. Here are some pics from today.

Update: There really isn't much to update you on. There has still been know news from the kids' caseworker so at this point there is very little chance we'll get them. We finished up the last class yesterday so our license may be in the mail as we speak. We'll let you know if we get another placement offer but for now we just hurry up and wait.

Bummed?

Yesterday we got an email from MCH saying they have not heard anything more on the kiddos. They were suppose to get a fax on Monday with all their info but the fax never came. They said "sometimes this just happens. We won't hear back from a caseworker ever again or sometimes they call back a week later." Hum..... I'm sure glad the Lord knows what is going on because we sure don't. We are bummed but still a little hopeful. It seems our married life has revolved around unknowns, why should this be any different?

We go in on Monday to finish up the class that will complete our license so maybe we'll find out more info then. This journey to parenthood is turning out to be quite the adventure!

On a very exciting note, we ordered a Nikon D90 and it should arrive today! We have been saving for a while and really wanted to get it before we have kids. We choose the D90 over a Cannon because it has HD video on it! Chase has been taking a photography class online so he's getting photography-lingo savvy.

Babies Update

Yes, you read correctly, babIES. Plural. I'll start at the beginning. Friday morning we received an email from our director saying that our license was held up in Waco because the state just mandated that one of the classes we took now has to be 8 hours instead of 6. MCH is scrounging to come up with an additional 2 hour class for us asap. Hopefully it will be sometime this week or early next week. As soon as that is finished, our license will be in the mail.

I had to go in to see our director on Friday for a few additional items and while I was there she offerred us a placement. A baby and a toddler sibling group. I can't tell you the exact ages via the Internet so that will at least give you an idea. One is a boy and one is a girl but at that moment she didn't know which was which. She didn't have any more information for us except that she thinks they will be become adoptable and we are the only family at the moment who are available to take adoptable babies. Since we don't have our license yet we obviously can't take them until we have it in hand but since there is no one else to take them right now, they'll have to wait for us.

At all times, we have the option to say 'no' to a placement. With that said, we have thought and prayed about it all weekend. At times we looked at each other and said, "there is no way we are ready to take 2 kids at 2 different life stages! We've never been parents before...this is way over our head." Other times we looked at each other and said "how can we say no? We want to be parents. God has been a God of the curve ball all year so far. Our plans may not be God's plans" Lord give us wisdom! Seriously.

As of this morning, we have decided we will take these precious babies. I can't imagine why someone would want to give up their baby and toddler but we are grateful for the opportunity to be parents. Now things can always change between now and when we have our license in hand. The parents may change their mind, someone else may come along to can take the babies sooner then we can...we don't know. We do know that if they are still available when we have our license, we will welcome them into our home as our kids as long as the Lord will allow.

If I think about it too much the overwhelming thoughts flood in. I know if the Lord wants this to happen, He will give us the strength and wisdom to do this. We will have to be wholly dependent on the Lord for this. Most of the time we wouldn't have this much time to think about it but since our license hasn't come yet, we are grateful we had a weekend to make a decision.

Hopefully I'll get more information tomorrow and can start preparing accordingly. I want to let you know that it is our desire to keep any foster or adopted kids' story just for them. We have read from several expert in the fields that it's best not to share your kid's story with the anyone but the child so they have a sense of ownership of who they are and where they came from. So with that said, I'll share with you what I can but there are many questions you will have that I won't be able to answer for that reason. When any of our kids are old enough, they can share what they wish with whoever they want but we want them to have that ownership.

We would covet your prayers as we prepare and wait. It could potentially be a long week or two now that we know there are 2 precious kids waiting for us to get our license.

Stay-at-home-wife

Today is my first official day as a stay-at-home-wife and I LOVE it! Well, yesterday was really the first official day but Chase took the day off for his bday so we spent the day in Fort Worth. I know it's hard to believe but neither of has ever been to FW! Chase loves zoo's so I planned a trip to the zoo, a picnic lunch at the botanical gardens, and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Side note: there is nothing in cheesecake that is on my diet but I decided to cheat for hubby's bday...bad idea. I didn't feel so hot this morning. I was so tired and groggy. The cheesecake was good but not worth the way I felt this morning. As of last Thursday, I've lost 9 lbs!!! I've been on this diet 4 weeks exactly. I feel so much better and the changes just keep coming.

I've got a lot to do so I won't be bored for quite some time. There is a lot to do when trying to start your own business, even when it's going to be a really small business. I have to get my food handling certificate which requires a 2 day class and test, set up a website, get a logo, create legal documents, get my tax id number...and I'm sure I'm missing a few things. I would like to have everything done as soon as possible so I can start making some mullah. I've got several big cakes on the books for June so I need to be official at the latest by then, Which should happen even if there are a few glitches.

My mother-in-law is visiting us late next week and then my sister comes the week after that. My mother-in-law has only been here for the wedding so I'm excited to show her what our life is like.

All of our foster stuff was sent to Waco today. It got held up in the Dallas office because the director was out sick all last week. So we should now be getting our license sometime next week. I'll let you know when we get it!

Prepping for baby

I am now a stay-at-home wife! And hopefully soon to be stay-at-home mom. I finished up my last week at work. It was bitter-sweet, but I must say probably more on the sweet side. I'll miss seeing everyone on a daily basis but since Chase still works here, I know I'll see them all from time to time.

We painted the second room last week. It's a light mosey-lime green. If we get a girl, we can add some pink, and if we get a boy, we can add some blue.

We still haven't gotten our license in the mail yet. We are expecting it sometime next week. I'll let you know as soon as we get it!

I got my first baby gift from a co-worker today! Here's a picture.

I had a bad dream last night. I dreamt that we had a foster baby for an entire year and on the baby's 1-year birthday the birth mom came to get her child back. It was so sad and heart-breaking. I am 80% thrilled beyond words to start this new journey and 20% scared to death that something like this dream will come to fruition. We are constantly praying that Lord will prepare our hearts for whatever may come and that we can be grateful for each day we have.

As soon as we get the nursery put together I'll take some pics and post them.

Weekend Happenings

We are DONE with EVERYTHING for foster!!!! This past weekend we had our home study which was our final 'check' on the lengthy 'to do' list. It took right at 3 hours. They asked us every question possible about each of our history's and how we plan on disciplining our foster child. We have been listening to a lot of Karyn Purvis so that helped tremendously with some of the tricky questions. Karyn is a child development prof at TCU who specializes in 'children who come from hard places', i.e. lots of adoptive and foster kiddo's. She is a wonderful godly woman and I really recommend her book, "The Connected Child" to ALL parents. It will take 1-2 weeks to process everything and send our license to us and then the real waiting begins.

I'll let you all know AS SOON as we get a baby. BUT I can't post pictures, use their real name, or tell you their story via the internet, foster rules. When all the adoption paper work is signed then we can share all of that info online. So, if you would like to see the baby or know all the details, you'll have to come visit which we would love! For all of you who live far far away, you can at least call me and I'll tell you what I can.

I did a weigh in this morning. It's officially been 2 weeks since I started this crazy life style change. I've lost 5.5 lbs in just 2 weeks! I have not exercised at ALL the last couple weeks. I'll be picking that up again here soon. I've gained 20 lbs since getting married 3 years ago. 15 of that was from the horrible treatments I was on that I never lost. So I am thrilled to see some of that coming off. Again, the goal is NOT weight loss, it's to get my body to a place where it can heal itself. I really feel like a new person since starting all of this. I have SO much more energy. I don't feel like I'm dependent on caffeine to get me through the day. I'm so much more productive at work and I don't feel like I have to be a sleep by 9 every night. If that is the only benefit from doing all of this, then this whole process has been well worth it.

Hoops and yoyo cake

I did this cake about a year ago for a co-workers birthday. She is obsessed with Hoops and Yoyo. If you have no idea who Hoops and Yoyo are, click here.

Naturopathic doctor update

Last Monday and Tuesday I went to Tulsa OK to see Dr. Joel Robbins who is a Naturopathic doctor. You can read more about why I went here. The results were fascinating but a little overwhelming. His approach to all diseases is drastically different than modern medicine. He is a believer and believes that God created our body to be the ultimate healer but we've hindered our bodies from doing so by putting 'toxins' (processed food) into it. He ran a bunch of tests and determined what vitamins and minerals my body was having a hard time absorbing and did some allergy tests to find out what food I'm allergic to.

My body has a hard time absorbing calcium, magnesium, vit C, all the B complexes, and folic acid. The latter 2 may explain why I keep miscarrying.

I'm allergic to wheat, rice, barley, msg, almonds, sunflowers, hazelnuts, all cow dairy except butter, artificial sweeteners...and I think I'm forgetting something.

My jaw dropped when I read this extensive list. My next question was "what CAN I eat?" I'm on a pretty strict diet and on several supplements. The goal is to get off the supplements within 6 months as my body starts to recognize the minerals and vitamins through food. He will re-test the food allergies in 6 months to see if I can start adding the wheat back in my diet.

I learned a lot while I was at the clinic. The tests were done all day Monday but I had some down time in between so I read a couple of his books. No, I'm not a ridiculously fast reader, the books were just really short. Apparently our body absorbs the most nutrients through juices. Part of my diet includes juicing fruits and veggies twice a day. I'm still getting used to the veggie juice...it's not my favorite. But the fruit juice is amazing! We got a nice juicer since we're needing to juice so much.

As you can imagine it's been an interesting week and a half. My sweet hubby had decided to join me on this new diet and is doing much better at the veggie juice than I am. We have to majorly plan ahead now. Like last night we were at our last foster class and I knew they would provide dinner. We had to plan ahead and bring our own with us instead of enjoy the pizza with everyone else. My cloths are already fitting looser and I think I've dropped 3 or 4 pounds. Crazy!

The goal is not to loose weight (although that will be an added perk), it's to get rid of this endo! He really thinks that if my body isn't trying to fight all the toxins I've been putting into for all these years then it will be able to fight the endo. He see's a lot of cancer patients come through and has see huge successes. It's not a quick fix but hopefully it will fix the issue longer than 9 months like a surgery. What do I have to loose besides a few pounds?

Last week was SO tough. We would come home from work and be asleep by 8:30 every night. This week has been MUCH better. We both have a lot more energy and I'm feeling more alert then ever. I'll keep you updated on this new journey. If you have any good veggie juice recipes, PLEASE pass them on!