I'm a Nerd and I'm Proud of It!

Last night Brad and I attended a fundraiser auction at our local Christian school. It turns out I am actually quite competitive when the bidding starts :) It was a silent auction, so we had to write down our bids, and then they told us when the bidding was going to close for that area, and you had to push your way in to write down your bid right before it closed. I am super excited about what I ended up with:

Yes, I love Little House and the Waltons! I don't care if they are old fashioned or not "cool" these days...I just love them! I love seeing when life was simpler. Sometimes I wish I was born in that time period, but then I remember about the outhouses and I think maybe not! This afternoon I am going to put some episodes in and watch them in the basement while I do some more sorting - hopefully it will make it go by more quickly!

That's My Dog

She goes up...

But can't get down...

She hates it when she's left alone...

(She was asleep when I went down to the basement, and this is what I found when I came upstairs five minutes later)

She always looks tired but has energy like you wouldn't believe!

That's my dog!

Today's News...

Completed I-600A form and having fingerprints taken for US immigration (needed in order to be approved to adopt from another country): $830.00

Knowing we are one step closer to holding our little one in our arms: PRICELESS!!!!

I'm So Excited...And I Just Can't Hide it!

Today was the perfect running day. It was cool, but not too cool. A light breeze, the sun shining - perfect. The park was gorgeous, surrounded by beautiful gold and red trees, a blue sky...just an overall perfect day to go running.

So after work, I went running.

I was hoping to be able to do about 3 miles, but wasn't sure if I could since I have been running only 2 or 2 1/2 miles each time recently. It has been a couple of weeks since I've done 3. Once I got going, I realized that I felt pretty good and thought I could for sure do the 3.6 I had planned. Once I finished that...I decided to keep going!

And I ran 5 miles! I REPEAT - FIVE MILES!!! I cannot believe I did that without dropping over dead. The signs at the park said I ran 5.4 miles, but based on my usual running paces and how long it took me today, I'd say it was closer to 5.

Either way, that is the farthest (furthest?) I have ever run. I am a happy camper :)

A Beautiful Gift

At church on Sunday, a dear lady approached me and gave me a beautiful gift. It is a bracelet that says "Heart to Home" and it was given to this lady by her mother-in-law when she was waiting to bring home her little girl from Guatemala. Well, her little girl has been home for a couple of months now, and so this lady passed this bracelet along to me to wear (or keep - my wrists are so small that I'm scared it will fall off and I'll lose it!) while we are waiting. She told me that when my wait is over, I can pass it along to someone else who is waiting to bring home a child.

What a beautiful reminder that I will not always be "in the waiting"! One day, the wait will be over and I will have my child in my arms. Every day I grow more and more certain that in the not too distant future I will look back on this period of my life and say, "It was SO worth it!"

Random Things, Part Two

The fun part about cleaning out the basement is that I know that if something does not belong to me, it belongs to Brad. I am learning all kinds of interesting things about my husband!

Apparently, he really likes hats or funny things to put on his head (I wasn't sure if that beanie counted as a hat...). Or rather, he likes to purchase them, and then keep them in the basement.

Please allow me to show you a couple of my favorites :)

Good news - we finally found the matching hat to Brad's fabulous Nascar jacket! Actually, he had two very colorful Rusty hats (I wonder which one he should wear at the airport...)

One of Brad's first statements when we started the big clean was "I'm not getting rid of my Rusty jacket". It's like he could read my mind!

Also previously unknown to me, my husband owns a cowboy hat. Which lives in our basement.

Daisie feels that this one needs to go as it has not been worn in the last four + years.

As I have been picking on Brad a bit for his "basement treasures", allow me to share one of my own that was discovered just today.

These are very special crackers...because they come from my teaching days! I used to have a box of snacks that I'd keep by my desk for when I got hungry. That means that these crackers are...maybe 3 1/2 years old.

I must admit, I was tempted to try them to see if they are still good!