We would like you to meet...

Yesterday wa a pretty good day.  it was a LONG day but all turned out well in the end!  We went to Beaumont to pick up our son.  Here we are waiting for all the paperwork to be signed.  It only took about 30 to 45 minutes, but it felt more like 2 days!  

Here we are after the baby was discharged by the doctor and we were heading to the Elevatory.

Here he is all cozy in his car seat ready for the long drive to his new home.

After we got home, Dean was able to hold him

And, introducing Jacob Dean Ashish Audirsch

Merry Christmas!!

News, and More News

First of all, thank you all for your prayers.  Please keep praying!  We have until 12:30 tomorrow (12/17)!

We had a fun day of visiting friends at work, shopping, and going down to the hospital.  My mother is in town and she helped me do some much needed shopping for all the necessities, like onesies and blankets, etc.  Then we picked up Dean and headed to Beaumont.  That sure is a long drive! 

We were able to visit with the birth parents as well as our social worker.  My mother was able to meat them as well and hold the baby.  He is even more handsome than he was yesterday!!!  Dean and I were able to talk and visit and cry and hold the baby for quite a long time today.  It was an emotional day today.  He is really a beautiful baby!  Head full of dark hair!  You can almost not tell where his eye brows stop and his hair starts!  I promise to post pictures soon.

As for tomorrow, we are going to the hospital around 11am to meet her mother and grand mother.  They have come in from Florida today.  We are nervous about meeting them, but we are confident all will turn out well.

We are praying for the strength and courage for everybody involved to decide the best for this beautiful baby boy. And I pray for all the happiness for the birth parents and their family in this difficult time. 

This is REALLY REALLY Happening!!!!

So, you never now how you are going to react to great things that happen to you in life. When we found out we were picked for adoption, we were floored and cried and were so happy!!!  We have been planning for a day like yesterday but you never know how you are going to react when such a thing happens.  Here's the story...

I went on my lunch break and was going to do some lunch time Christmas Shopping when I called Dean just to say hi and how's it going and that it was nice out so he should get out some today.  Then, the phone beeped and it was AIM on the other line.  I told Dean I had to go and answered the call.  It was Denise, she said to call Jan on her cell phone NOW!  Well, guess what!  The birthmother was in labor and we are wanted at the hospital in Beaumont, you won't get there before the baby's born as she is 8cm already!  OMG!  I had to pull over to call Dean and told him all about it!!!  Then frantically called my mother who FREAKED out of course and started to head our way!

We got to the Hospital around 2:30pm.  She apparently went into labor at 1am that morning, but was sent HOME from the hospital at only 1cm.  By the time she got back to the hospital, she was in full blown labor, and he was delivered so fast they didn't even have time to finish the paperwork!!! 

The baby was born on December 15, 2010, 12:23 pm, weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long.  He's happy and healthy, and the birthmother is doing great!

So, we are currently in the "48 hour" window, which ends Friday at 12:30. Please keep praying forus.

I will post more when I know more as we are planning on going to the hospital this afternoon.

Truly A Jolly Happy Soul

I love my dog.  He is such a sweet and super hyper dog!  But, one of my favorite things about my crazy dog is he ACTUALLY will sit and take a picture when I ask.  I'm not sure why but he does!  And, when doing a Christmas picture, risking my beautiful tree from total Buddy destruction with ONE swift wag of a tail, I asked him to sit patiently down by the tree and take a picture.  And, the ONLY way to describe this dog is truly a Jolly Happy Soul!

Have a Merry Christmas from Buddy (the Elf)!

I just wish we could get a costume on him, I really think he would look too cute in a Buddy the Elf costume don't you?  He just never warmed to the idea of wearing clothes and/or anything on his head. I think that's Dean's doing as he thinks dressing up the dog is just wrong.  Oh well.  Here's to Buddy the Elf!  One of my favorite movies of the Christmas Season!

"Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

Have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

YEY!  I have a beautiful Christmas tree!  I actually had it finished Thanksgiving weekend. 

The tree is a pre-lit tree with only white lights

And, now, with the multi-color lights added

 I have some of the ornaments on, just playing with the feature on my camera here...

 My mother made me this ornament when I was a baby!

 And, here's the finished tree!!!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and if you ventured out into the craziness called "Black Friday" I hope you got the best deals you could with out any black eyes!  :)

We are looking forward to this Holiday Season!  We wish all the happiness to you and may all your Christmas Wishes come true!  I know what WE are wishing for!!! (HINT:  it's tiny and will turn this couple into a FAMILY!)

So far, so good!

Well, it looks like things are going quite well!  We are chatting with the birth parents via email and enjoying getting to know them a little better.  We are cautiously optimistic at this point and hope with all hopes that this goes on without a problem. 

I'm going to repost this picture...

Notice the white dresser is NOT the one we got from Babies R Us.

This dresser is very special to me.  When I was a baby and my family was just starting out, we didn't have much.  However, my father bought this dresser for me.  It was originally just a pink dresser.  My mother being the artist she is drew pictures of Raggedy Ann and Andy and glued them to the sides of the dresser.  She used the piggy banks on top of it now as a guide to what she wanted to draw.  I have had this dresser with me ever since!  When I was in high school, we repainted my bedroom and I painted this dresser white but made sure not to cover up the art work on the sides.  And, now it's proudly going to be used in my baby's room.  And, as our room is prepared for the baby, we are ready...

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.   -John 14:3

I hope everybody has a great day!  Keep praying for a happy, healthy baby and for him to grow up in a good home!  Give us the ability to continue our new relationship with the birth parents, and wish ALL the happiness in the world to them!

THAT was a pretty good day!

The meeting went REALLY well!  We feel pretty good about it all!  I'll post more later..

Okay?  Okay!  Love ya!

Nursery Time!

So, with the news from Nov 3, we finally got going on the Nursery!  Here is how the room started...

This is the room as it was our Guest Room.  Caribbean colors of blue, orange, pink and lime green!  Yes, that's a giant Dolphin Stuffed animal.  His name is OOPIE (pronounced oh-pee - long story...).

It took four people at different times durring a couple of days to get all the stuff out of the room!  But, we finally got it!

 The, I got FANCY and bought some stencil material for the cricut, found a GREAT grass shape on the Mickey and Friends cartridge and painted on the grass.  Love how this turned out!

 Close up of the grass

Once the grass was finished, we started on the clouds!  Linda came over to help me out. 

 So, the clouds are half finished here and even though the ones on the wall look like whip cream, I still LOVE THEM!!

 Then, Friday (11/12) we got our furniture from Baby's R Us, and they SO IKEA'ed us!  We had to put each and every piece together!  Amanda helped put this together...

 And, finally, we finished!  All the furniture is set up, the walls are painted, we have a stroller and car seat system, so we are ready to go!

And just as we finished, our social worker, Jan, called us to confirm we are still excited and ready to go to Beaumont on Tuesday!  So, we are so excited we can barely breathe! 

Keep praying!  I'll let you know when I know!!!

This is REALLY Happening!

So, I promised I would write more.  So, here goes.  This is a bit long, but it's worth it!!!

Yesterday we went to a meeting at our adoption agency, a support group for waiting parents.  It was nice!  We had a few snacks, learned what was going on with the agency, and were able to share stories and feelings and ideas about what all of us are going through.  We all were able to discuss openly what's going on in our wait and offer and hear advise from others.

The evening was winding down and people were beginning to head home so we waived to the social worker that we were heading out and she signaled for us to wait.  She seemed like she really wanted to talk to us, so we waited, even though we needed to be heading out to get home.  Once all the other couples left, she took us in her office to discuss what was going on.

Back in September, we received an email about a couple who were looking for adoptive parents for their baby.  We were asked if we wanted to be considered for the situation and we said yes.  We never imagined in a million years that she would pick us.  Yes, thats right, you guessed it, we have been PICKED!!  We were all so shocked and amazed as to what was happening.  To be faced with a reality of something you fantasize about is so exciting that I have no word to expalin the excellent feeling I'm having!!!!! 

So, the next step, we are going to be meeting the Birth Parents on November 16th.  This will be an exciting meeting.  I'm already nervous about it and not sure what to expect.  If this meeting goes well, meaning we are willing and they are willing to continue with the process together, Dean and I will be parents to their baby.  Here's the really shocking part.  She is due MID DECEMBER!  Yes, I said December!!!  We are talking about 6 weeks here! 

Here's a picture of us after we got home.  I couldn't stop crying all the way home!!!

This is a really scary and exciting time for us.  At this point, this is not a sure thing, but we are confident in our social worker and trust her judgment that there is a good chance this may be the one.  We hope with all hope that this is the right situation for us.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that this is the right situation for us.  And, if it happens to not be the right situation, pray for us to have the strength and courage to continue this journey.  We know we are going to find the just right situation for us and all involved!

God Bless!  Love ya!  I'll keep you Posted!!!

Wow

The most exciting thing happened today.  I will write more later!  Love Ya!

Happy Halloween!!!

Just wanted to say Happy Halloween to everybody!  Be safe and have fun!

Love, Pixel

Do we really have to choose just ONE?

So, we have a free weekend finally!  What did we do?  Oh, nothing too exciting.  We went to IKEA to see what kind of couches and if they had baby furniture.  The couches were good, we got to look at some Kitchens, and they didn't have much in the baby furniture department for babies.  SO, we wend diving up 45 to Spring and The Woodlands.

We found Baby's & Kid's First Furniture!  Wow, what a place!  We had a blast looking around at all the furniture and getting ideas and such.  Here are a few we were looking at.

I really like the sleigh cribs!  This one has a safty gate on the front.  Looks nice!

This one is great, it's a 4 in 1 which is what we are looking for.

This was a weird looking crib!  No, didn't like it at all!

Dean really liked this plane.  He had a Big smile - COOL!

This is the one we liked the best.  It comes in a more natural finish which is what we are going to get.

So, there you have it!  The only weird thing about going crib shopping when you waiting to adopt, well, you are not pregnant and I would say every woman in there was!  So, everybody was looking at my tummy and wondering!  Ha!  Oh well.  We now know what we want and what to look for so we hope to get something soon!  We really need to clean up the room and get it ready!

Have a Happy Halloween!



Mass Hysteria!!

Ever have one of those photo moments that you just cannot believe that you have to take it!  Well, here is one...

To quote Bill Murray:

"Dogs and Cats living together - Mass Hysteria!!"

-Ghost Busters

Pixel even has the remote as he is DEFINATELY the Alpha Pet in the house.  Can you Believe he is 15 years old!  He is older than ALL of Dean's middle brother's 8 kids!  On that note, Jack is 9, so he's older than 4 of them. Buddy's only older than 1 of them.

Time for a Visit!

Today, we had our home visit.  We were really nervous and have spent the last two weeks getting the house ready for the big meeting.  We were a little worried when the social worker called and said she was going to be late, but fortunately, it all worked out for the best!  We had a great afternoon of discussing our lives with her, and she gave us great tips and things to consider for the next phase of the process.  We both felt it went really well.

So, what's the next phase of the process?  Well, most adoptive parents will say this is the hardest part.  We are now officially waiting.  Waiting to be chosen.  Wait Wait Wait.  We have turned in all our paperwork and our birth mother book and are ready to go.  So, to keep us busy while we wait, we are going to transform our guest room into a nursery!  Sorry, all visitors will have to sleep on the sofa bed from now on! We have to first get all the stuff out of the room that doesn't need to be there, and do some painting to get everything ready, then we will get the furniture.

Have a GREAT week!

You will be missed

Today I learned a dear friend of mine passed away this weekend.  I have not seen her in a few years, but think of her often.  We met while I was living in Colorado, we worked together in my first "real job" out of college.  She was a wonderful friend and was there for me at my must needed hour.  Most of my best memories of my time living in Colorado have her in them.  From Holiday parties, including Halloween to Christmas cookie party, to gossiping over lunch about work, to all the hours we spent together scrapbooking, to just sitting around chatting. She was a wonderful, beautiful person who was truely an Angel here on earth. 

To my dearest friend, Errika.  You were a beautiful, wonderful, cheerful person.  You are and will always be missed.  God Bless you and your family, as I cannot imagine the pain they feel.  I love you, Eriika!

This was at Eriika's Halloween party in 1999, me as Queen Amidala, Eriika as Marge Simpson, and another friend as a cat.

Renee, Eriika and Dayna at Dayna's 27th Surprise Birthday Party

And, for my 29th birthday, Eriika gave me a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit Collectors Edition.

I Love Halloween!

I love Halloween and I love decorating for it!  I went to Michaels the other day and all the fun Halloween stuff was on sale, so I got theses candles and decorated them.  Going on my table. The stickers are Martha Stewert and so very cute!

This is just the beginning of my table center piece. I'll update when I get more!

Happy Halloween!

What's going on with you?

Wow, been a while!  I cannot believe it's already October! So, here's whats up...

Adoption:  Sept 27 was our individual meetings, where Dean and I were interviewed alone with Jan.  We did it all in one day, and wow, that place is really busy!!  However, we both feel it went quite well!  And, I've already volunteered for the Christmas Party they have for the Birthmothers.  And, I'm gonna get people at work to help!  Hey, it's 8 hours of volunteer time!

We have turned in our Birthmother book.  It is so awesome!  I really love it and Dean was very proud of it as well.  So, now we are less than 2 weeks away from our Home visit.  We have a bit more paperwork to do and then we are ready and waiting!  Here's to Hope!

Scrapbooking:  well, I'm going to Croptoberfest on Oct 16th and cannot wait!  I had to miss the August crop, which is the first event from my CMC that I've missed in like 2 years!  Total bummer!!!  Howevr, I am almost finished with my Cancun album.  Hope to finish that at the crop and then I'm going to work on my brother-in-laws Disney album!  it's an 8.5 x 8.5 album, so it's a weird size, but it will be fun!

Crafts:  Being October, I'm all in the mood for crafts!  I made the cutiest candles the other day!  Next I'm going to do some pumpkin deorating!  Saw a really great idea online I'm going to try.  Once I get it all up, I'll post some pictures!

So glad fall finally decided to show up, it's been really cool in the mornings and only getting up to low to mid 80s.  YEY!

TTFN!

Adoption Seminar

Today, we went to the all day seminar where we heard from different people all representing different aspects of the adoption process.  We heard from a few birth mothers, adoptees and adoptive parents.  Some of the stories they tell you are so scary, like the birthmother deciding at the last minute they want to keep the baby, and stories from birthmothers that they completely regret placing their baby for adoption.  And, on  the flip side, we heard some really great stories.  One lady was pregnant with her 6th baby and decided she could not raise the child, so she decided on adoption.  We heard from two couples who had recently been placed and they had their miracle babies with them!  They had some good stories and tips and helpful hints for us, like what to expect when you visit the hospital after the baby is born.  How to prepare for the upcoming blessed event, and other tid bits we may need.  By the way, I think we will get a car seat as soon as we are chosen so we will have enough time to figure it out!  We heard both couples complain about putting in the car seat!  Guess I'm going to have to talk Dean into getting me a new car sooner, huh?

Here we are at the agency. 

There were 7 couples at the agency for the seminar today, and there are currently 8 couples currently waiting.  We have set up our next meeting, the individual interviews, in a few weeks and we have set up a time for the home visit in October.  Once that is finished and our book is complete, we will be ready to be selected!  Such an exciting and scary time!  Here's to HOPE!!!

The week and stuff

Well, last week was the last week we had to do anything to do with Dean's Hospital Stay!  He came home Aug 17th and was put on a home IV for a total of 14 days.  This ended Friday 8/27, and the nurses came and removed the PICC line and we are glad to put the whole big huge mess behind us and move along!

Thursday we are going to our Adoption counceling meeting we had to reschedule.  We are so ready for this meeting!  And, looking forward to the next step in the adoptions process.  I almost have our birthmother book finished!  We are attending an all day seminar on the 9th, so that should be interesting!

And, this weekend was the first weekend with NO iv so we ran some errands Saturday and smoked some Ribs today, just for fun.  Didn't go too well, came out a bit salty, and we couldn't get the grill at the right temp, so right now we are still in more of the error side of trial and error when it comes to great BBQ. We have made it our mission to make ribs and brisket so good that we could enter a cook off if we want to!  We just have to practice!  Football season is gonna be great!  Cooking in the backyard while listening to football and playing with the dog, sounds like fun, yes?

Here's a couple layouts from my 365 project.

Have a great week!  I know I'm looking forward to a two short weeks in a row!  Have a great Labor Day!

This and That

I'm glad to say this week is almost over!  It's Friday afternoon and tomorrow is going to be sleep catch up and fill out adoption paperwork day!  We are both so tired!  Dean requires an IV drip every 8 hours, so at 6am, 2pm, and 10pm for two hours.  Coming off a week of little sleep that wasn't good to even less sleep that is pretty decent, we are well, out of gas! 

Here is my layout for last week.  Hope you like it!

Sunday - Mother's Hospital Lunch

Monday - our feet while waiting for Dean's surgery

Tuesday - Lemon Bar from Dean's lunch

Wednesday - gas for the minivan

Thursday - downtown Houston in a rain shower

Friday - Buddy is the cutiest dog!!!

Saturday - LONG uphill sky walk to the parking garage

Have a great weekend!

Project 365 - August 1 to 7

So, while I was waiting for Dean's surgery to finish up, I was able to get some digi scrapbooking finished!  Thank goodness for technology!  I had my camera that had the daily photos and I just plugged in my picture card and just started to work!

Here's my layout!

Sunday - it's Pixel's Birthday!

Monday - Yummy snack - peach, banana, strawberry and cranberry smoothie

Tuesday - this car has glitter fleck paint quite a site!

Wednesday - CRAZY shoe day!

Thursday - Dean & Dayna at their adoption orientation

Friday - Gas for the truck again - $79.09

Saturday - Dean broke his leg, this was the pass I needed to see him in the ER trauma room

What a WEEK!!!

Okay, so we had a really big thing happen Satuday.  Dean broke his leg!  I am right now in Memorial Herman hospital waiting while he's in surgery getting a rod placed in his left femur.  We got an update at 5:30ish and all was going well.  We checked in the emergency room on Satuday afternoon, were admitted that evening, then waited until Monday late afternoon for surgery.  There have been all kinds of stress with this, trying to get information from the nurses and the doctors.  We actually didn't see a single doctor until this morning once we started complaining about all the waiting and pushing back of surgery.  However, Dean's mom finally was able to get someone to pay attention and we got him taken care of.

UPDATE:  His surgery went well!  He got back to his room around 9ish.  Long, very long day!  Needing one more overnite stay, but will be back to normal soon!

So, we are waiting.  Hopefully we will be able to get him home tomorrow so we can get back to our everyday lives.  The recovery time for this surgery is relatively short and should be back to the grind in a few days.

Here are my feet (Nike's), with my mom's (silver flip flops) and my mother-in-law's (white sandles)!  This is while we are waiting in the OR waiting room.

TTFN!

Well, here we go!

So, today we go to the first orientation for the Adoption process!  I am so nervous and excited!  I really don't know what to expect!  I mean, I kinda have an idea, but does one really ever know whats going on?  The last few weeks I've been chatting with a friend who just adopted a little girl earlier this year.  It was an international adoption and it took two years, but she and her family are so happy!  Its nice to be able to talk about this with friends and they get just as excited about it as I am.

We are going today from 9:30 to 12:30 so it's a good long afternoon of questions being answered.  Open vs. Closed, how long does it take, have we gotten thru the first round of checks or are we still on the bubble, so many questions and concerns!  I went out last night and got a notebook and a binder and dividers so I can keep track of all our notes and stuff so I'll have it all in one place when I start a scrapbook! 

Now, my mother and mother-in-law are starting to get excited too!  But, they are asking the kinds of questions they ask...what names have you picked out and when do you get started on the room!  Wait, what?  But, that's what they do best, and thanks to them, and all our friends, we have a HUGE prayer circle going for us today, which is the best part of all this!  So many people want this to go well, so I'm thinking it will!

I'll be sure to post more later about the meeting!  Wish us well!

The Beginning

Well, as they always say, the best place to start is the beginning!  I've visited all sorts of blogs and I always wanted to start one of my own but never knew what to blog about!

I think I have a lot of interesting things going on in my life these days, and now I'm ready!  So, here goes!  I will do all kinds of posts about crafts, me, my family, my pets, and things I like to talk about.

And, the biggest thing that's going on now is we are starting the adoption process.  We have our very first orientation this Thursday, and we just can't wait.  Check back soon!  I plan on posting all about it!

So, I hope I keep up and I hope it's fun and I hope a few people read this and it brings a smile to their faces!