Homestudy done!

I want to thank you all for your wonderful support and prayers! It means so much!!

The homestudy went very well! Our social worker is so nice! She really made us feel so much at ease. It came out that she was adopted herself so I asked her a lot of questions from "her" side which was nice for me. We spent about 4 hours. We tried to get everything done in 1 shot as we live 4 hours away from the agency so we wanted to do as much as we could this time.....and we got a lot done. :)

There are so many things still left to do, lots of documents to fill out and background checks, etc. But we should pass those with flying colors.

Thanks to my family, the house looked WONDERFUL for it and it sure is nice to be sitting here in such a wonderful, beautiful, clean home. She kept commenting on how nice the house looked and what a beautiful area we live in.

And I didn't fart or burp! I was so proud of myself for that. :) Not that I do that all the time but that's something I always worry about...accidentally burping or farting in front of people.

Yeah, I'm odd like that.

Our phone rang quite a bit while she was here and we just ignored it. We came to find out afterwards that Mark's mom is in the hospital for back spasms. We haven't heard much more about it but if you could say an extra prayer for her, we would appreciate it so much.

Thanks again to all of you! One of the things she asked about was support systems and I told her what a wonderful blogger community I have and how much support I get from you guys. So, I wanted to thank you so much for that and for all you've done to help us through this journey. We are so blessed.

If anyone would like to know more about it or have a homestudy coming up and would like to know what all is involved, please let me know! I want to help you out in any way that I can! I'm always here for you!

Update on missing Shore.view man

I wanted to thank you all for the prayers for Matt Anderson and the family.

Turns out he was not abducted and found safe in Vegas. He had left on his own free will.

So sad. I feel for the family.

I could make a lot of comments but I'll only make one. I'm soooooo glad my sister and him did not get married and that my sister wasn't put in the situation his wife was in. Things always happen for a reason and I'm glad my sister married the man she did.

Please keep the Anderson family in your prayers as I'm sure this is a real hard time for them.

Tomorrow is the home study! We're getting anxious about it. I promise to let you know how it goes and then I promise to get caught up on blogs! I absolutely hate it when I get so far behind. :(

Mixed emotions

I realize that I’m seriously in the running for the worst blogger. I’m not only slacking big time on my own blog but I’m so far behind on others. I hate it when that happens.

I have a ton of blog posts swimming around in my head and I still have lots more Vegas pictures to show, and I’ll be getting to those.

Right now, though, I’m really concentrating on the house and our home study on Sunday.

Like 4 days away. 96 hours away.

Yikes.

But, in all honesty, I think we’re pretty ready. My mom and sister have been so wonderful. They came down and helped Monday while I was coaching gymnastics and they got quite a bit done. I know I’ve said it before but I’ve got the best family. I even put poor Peyton to work last night. She asked what she could do to help bring the baby home. Awwww. So I handed her a dust rag and she went to town. I get Aunt of the Year, don't I?

It’s been a little emotional getting the house ready. I keep thinking that we could be getting ready for the baby or babies rather than getting ready to show that we can have a baby. We’ve collected some baby stuff, mostly Precious Moments things. Some things we bought 5 years ago. F-i-v-e y-e-a-r-s. That could be stuff that should be so worn out that we should be getting ready to throw them away. Instead, they are still brand-new in a box.

I’m definitely not saying I’m not grateful for this opportunity and since God has opened this door, we will definitely follow. We never thought this would even be an option for us, so we are very grateful for that.

I guess I just think about the what could’ve beens and I know I would be 5-1/2 months pregnant now and it makes me grieve what I’m missing, even though I have soooooo much to be grateful for.

Yeah, I'm confusing, wishy-washy and so anxious about things I feel like I'm gonna puke.

Nice vision, huh?

Thank you for your patience! I promise to check up on everyone real soon and sorry I haven’t been there!

Prayer request--please read

For those in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, you may have heard about the missing Shoreview man who was possibly abducted. Here is the story for those who haven't. This story includes a picture.

This man was my sister's ex-boyfriend. They went out for quite a few years and because of some family issues, spent quite a bit of time with our family and even went on vacations with us, etc. He was just another member of the family and in so many ways was a "big brother" to me. We always thought my sister and him would get married. We were all very close to him until the day he broke up with my sister, just suddenly said he didn't love her anymore.

This story came as a shock to our family and it is so sad. Whether he really was abducted or something else, please be in prayer for the family. Although we haven't talked to this man or his family in over 10 years, we do know the family and for a time we were all very close.

My sister is handling this very well and I'm so proud of her. It's just a sad situation, no matter what is going on. You never think this would happen to someone you know.

Please keep the family in your prayers. Thank you so much.

So busy

For those who have e-mailed, I promise I'm not ignoring you! I've just been real busy lately.

Our in home homestudy was moved from the 19th to the 26th which has actually been a big relief. Our garage is still packed from the garage sale and the house still has so much to do on it.

That's been on my mind a lot.

I started coaching gymnastics this week and that is every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights until 7:30.

That keeps me really going.

Have I mentioned the homestudy is in about a week and a half and we're nowhere near ready?

I've been working about 60 hours a week. It's my own fault. I put the pressure on myself to get the work done and because of my responsibilities with work, I feel it looks bad on me when we're behind. So, I usually start work at 4 in the morning and work until 3:30...every day....although on weekends, it's usually 4 until 10.

That's been on my mind a lot.

Have I mentioned the homestudy is in about a week and a half and we're nowhere near ready?

Mark has surgery tomorrow to get his defibrillator battery changed. It's a one day surgery and pretty routine but it's still a little nerve-racking and Mark is pretty nervous. Anytime you're dealing with the heart, it's a little scary.

That's been on my mind a lot.

Have I mentioned the homestudy is in about a week and a half and we're nowhere near ready?

Some good news! Mark and I were asked to be godparents to Draven! What a huge honor! Her baptism is this Saturday. This is my first time being a godparent as in our religion (Baptist) we don't do godparents. So, I'm excited. :) Although, technically, we've already been asked to be godparents for my very good friend, K's, boy so we're really already godparents. :) It's such an honor and it's definitely not something we take lightly at all!

Have I mentioned the homestudy is in about a week and a half and we're nowhere near ready?

On a positive note, Peyton is in gymnastics and I get to be her coach. :) It's so wonderful. And tomorrow night, depending on how Mark is doing, we get to have Jamie Bean OVERNIGHT!!! I'm sooooo excited! I have the day off on Friday, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I find myself getting very nervous and anxious about everything sometimes. In fact, a friend gave me a book titled "Calming the Anxious Heart" and I get anxious about thinking when I'm going to have time to read it and I get nervous about that.

Now how wrong is that?

Have I mentioned the homestudy is in about a week and a half and we're nowhere near ready?

I promise I'll get caught up on blogs. I've been thinking of you all!! (((HUGS)))

A question we've been asked alot

"Will you be getting another dog?"

I can answer now with certainty that yes, we will definitely be getting another dog, not to replace Eddie by any means as no dog could replace Eddie. But, the love we had for Eddie and he had for us is something we so want to experience again.

Honestly, we had gone back and forth about getting another dog. Before Eddie passed away, I had always wanted another dog when Eddie was gone but Mark didn't. After Eddie passed away, Mark wanted another dog and I didn't. But, now, we both agree that we want another dog.

At first, we heard from a lot of people to get another dog as soon as possible to "help" with the healing. If there is something we've definitely learned during our losses is that no one can tell you what the next step should be or how you should react. It is up to you, how fast you go, steps you take, etc. And no step is the "wrong" way. I've learned to not worry what other people think I should be doing or grieving and just concentrate on what is best for me.

We have sent in an application for a service dog for Mark. The idea of a service dog was brought up by my family not long after Eddie passed away. We were still grieving, so my wonderful mom got some information for us. I made a few phone calls and bada bing. Now we just wait to hear what they say and if they accept our application.

In case you're wondering how a service dog would help in our case, I'll explain. As you probably know, Mark is a diabetic and has serious issues. He has hypoglycemic unawareness where his sugar will go low without him knowing. Sometimes I can tell but, especially at night when we're sleeping, by the time I "find" him, he's extremely low. A service dog detects when someone is starting to go low, alerts them and sometimes even retrieves a pop or a gel of glucose. The dog can also bark to alert me if Mark is in trouble, such as in another room, etc. The dog can be trained to do basically anything.

This is HUGE! This would save both of us some stress and nervousness, especially when we're baby-sitting the kids. It's scary when he has those reactions when the kids are here and having a service dog would help eliminate the unpredictability.

The best thing is that the dog would be able to determine a low blood reaction probably way before Mark or I would.

It would be such a relief to both of us, especially if we had a new baby in the house.

So, that's the latest. I hope that answers some of your questions. :) If you have more, feel free to ask!!!

More pictures of Vegas to come soon. :)

Day 4--August 31 **second post of the day**

Like I said, this day was certainly one of the highlights of the trip. We got to meet Mrs La La, her hubby, Alex, and baby Nolan! From the time I posted we were going to Vegas, she e-mailed asking if we would like to meet. Of course!!! We were both so very excited.

We decided to meet at the Treasure Island Dishes Buffet. We were so offended by the fact that they got there earlier than us so they paid for our buffets. Can you believe it? How rude! I'm totally kidding. It was so, very nice of them.

They are so very sweet. And they brought Nolan who seriously is the cutest baby! He's sooooo cute and has the sweetest smile. Oh, we fell in love with him right away.

Mark especially loved meeting Alex. You see, Alex recently had a kidney transplant and as some may know, Mark had a kidney transplant back in March 2002. So, it was especially neat for Mark. And you know how guys usually talk sports or something like that? These guys talked medications. :) It was cute.

Here are some pictures. We had such a wonderful time. Thanks Angela, Alex and Nolan! Next time we definitely get to meet the girls. :) I insist. :) :)


Mark and Alex


Me with Nolan...isn't he a cutie???


Nolan


Me and Angela


Alex, Angela and Nolan

After meeting them, we went over to visit the Auto Collections. Mark is totally into cars as most know. I promise I won't show all the pictures....he had me take a-l-o-t. I'll show you a few pictures, though.


Here is Mark


Mark by Elvis' car


Mark picking his nose. Okay, not really...it's staged. :) He'd kill me if I didn't admit that. :)


You can see I sure was in my glory


Me in front of my favorite car, a Volkswagon


And our backsides

Day 3--August 30th

This day started out really, really boring and dumb. Because we were at a timeshare, we were "invited" to sit in on the presentation. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about..."no pressure, you just have to listen to it and then we give you a gift at the end".

Yeah, we were crazy enough to do it.

We're dumb like that.

It took our whole morning and they totally lie when they say "no pressure"...as you know. We did stand our guns and came away with $100 cash for sitting through it. :)

It did make me feel good, though, when our agent told us that she could tell we were so much in love and she could see it in our eyes which was so nice to see. That really touched me. She couldn't believe we had been married for 9-1/2 years. She thought we were on our honeymoon the way we were looking at each other. It was just so nice to hear.

Next we went back to our hotel room and rested for a while. Then, in the afternoon we went to the Venetian as we were going to see Phantom of the Opera there that night. We went and got the tickets and then went to eat some Chinese



After we ate, we walked around a little bit. We watched the boats on the river



And we walked around a little more. We saw this statue which was an actual person


Yeah, that's an actual person. Mark didn't believe me for a long time

Then we saw these musicians when we passed it again


So I thought I would give a little entertainment


After my entertainment, we went to Phantom of the Opera. Our tickets were for the balcony so we had to walk up a couple flights of stairs. It wasn't too bad, but when we got up to the top, they asked if we wanted to be upgraded and seated in the third row. We were excited! So we got to turn around and walk right back down those steps. :)

The show was awesome....very good and we recommend it for sure!

Next day was one of the highlights of the trip FOR SURE! We got to meet a bloggy friend. :) Stay tuned!!

Gotta share this....

I PROMISE there are more pictures coming of our trip tomorrow.

But right now, I have to share this.

One of my faithful readers e-mailed me after my last post about Eddie. I'm not sure if she would want me to say her name, so I won't, but she is such a sweetie and I was so glad she e-mailed me.

She told me about losing her dog in July and how hard it was. And she told me about how despite cleaning the house she still sees dog kibble in the kitchen. She told me how she felt it was like her dog was still there with her.

I told Mark this story and both of us were so touched.

Mark had gone down to the basement this afternoon to exercise and I came down to talk to him. I don't remember what about but I just came down. We started talking about Eddie. We talk about him a lot and how much we miss him. I went back up the stairs. About halfway up the stairs, right in the middle of the stair was...

a piece of dog food.

And a couple steps above that was...

a piece of dog food.

I hadn't seen them going down the stairs, not to say that they weren't there, but you couldn't miss it going up. The funny thing is, Eddie NEVER went down the stairs...never. He hated those stairs. There was no reason why there should've been dog food on the stairs...no reason. And we've never found it there before.

It made me smile. It might mean nothing, but to me, it gives me some comfort and that's what I need.

Thanks Eddie. You're the best. Love you so much buddy.

Day 2-August 29

I first want to thank you all for your support, love and understanding with how hard it was going to be to pick up Eddie's ashes....especially Chelle, who really prepared me and was such a big support. You're the BEST girl! Love you!

We picked up his ashes after work today and, man, was it hard. I could barely get it out of my mouth that we were there to pick them up. The vet came out and gave me a huge hug as I cried and thanked her again for everything. She said she knows we miss him so much and all I could do was nod.

It was like having Eddie die all over again. It was tough.

My mom invited us out for supper and the kids were there so that was a nice distraction. And Peyton came home with us to spend the night which has been a HUGE help and distraction for Mark. I absolutely love my family and so glad my sister is willing to share her kids. :)

Anyway, I wanted to show pictures of Hoover Dam!

We took a shuttle bus and took a tour of Hoover Dam. We were the first ones to get on the shuttle, and, you guessed it, we were the last ones to be dropped off. It made for a long day but it was okay. The tour was supposed to take 4 hours from pick up time to drop off time but for us it was 6.5 hours. It felt like our school days all over again...first to get on and last to get off the bus. :)


Here we are waiting for the shuttle. Mark was not cooperating with a picture so I told him I was going to post this one for sure. I think next time he'll cooperate. :)

Here we are on the shuttle. You can see it's completely empty except for us. :)

It was really interesting and we loved seeing it. We rented a wheelchair for Mark so he wouldn't have to walk so far which worked out good. The only real big bummer was that we couldn't actually go down into the power plant of the dam because of Mark's defibrillator and the magnets. So we didn't actually get to see the inside which was a bummer but nothing we could do about it.

Pictures of the dam:





Mark and I at the Hoover Dam


Mark in the Visitor's Center. He's so cool.

After the Hoover Dam, the bus stopped at a chocolate factory where we got some free samples...sweet! :) They had a cactus garden there and of course Mark was being his dorky self....with a little encouragement from me. :)


This is him showing how sharp those cactuses can be :)

After we got back to the hotel, we rested for a little bit and then went out to see the movie "The Switch". Very good movie...we both loved it. Caution! Spoiler alert! Predictable but very cute. I was just glad she didn't end up pregnant at the end like all "infertility" movies seem to do. Struggle with infertility and then end up with up-teen babies at the end of the movie....like that's the way it is in "real life" (dripping with sarcasm).

We're back! Day 1--August 28

We're back and had a great time. It was really nice to get away. It was so nice. I admit....coming home was hard. The house was really quiet and we had received a message while we were gone saying Eddie's ashes were ready to be picked up. It was just hard and emotional for me.

I know...hard to feel bad for someone who's depressed after coming home from a week in Vegas.

Vegas was so fun, though. We saw a couple shows, saw Hoover Dam, met a WONDERFUL bloggy friend and even met up with my brother who happened to be in Vegas this last weekend and neither one knew until last week. Kind of cool. :)

I'm going to describe our trip day by day in different posts. Otherwise, it's going to be a serious picture overload and I wouldn't want to do that to you guys. :)

We spent the night at a hotel near the airport the night before so we could do the park and fly thing and park the car at the hotel.

Our flight was leaving at 2 in the afternoon so we were able to relax quite a bit before we had to leave which was really nice.

On the plane, we sat next to a couple who had twin 2-year-olds and literally when one wasn't screaming, the other was. Both Mark and I were trying to help as much as we could with the kids and I kept telling the parents they were doing the best they could. I know they felt horrible about it but I know how hard it is to keep kids quiet on an airplane.

I couldn't believe how rude people were about it. People would make comments about how they were glad to get off the plane from that "stupid baby". I felt bad for the parents. They did thank us several times for our help and being so understanding. Hey, we had a good time....we love kids. :)


Mark in the hotel room



Mark and I in the hotel room before leaving for the airport (in the top picture, Mark is just being a dork)


Mark in the plane. Mark said the sweetest thing in the plane. When we were in the air, he said he felt better because we were closer to Eddie. Of course, it made me cry. It was really sweet.

When we got to Vegas, we went and picked up our car and then went to the hotel. We stayed at the Grandview. It was absolutely beautiful. We loved the room.

The Grandview

The timeshare room we got was just awesome:

Our dining room/living room. We were soooo excited to have a flat screen TV. :) We don't have that at home


The jacuzzi


Our bedroom. Yes, I should've made the bed before taking the picture...oops. :)


The bathroom. We were so excited that we had 2 sinks. We only have 1 at home. It was awesome having 2. :) And the shower was HUGE. It was definitely big enough for 2...don't ask how we know that. :)


The kitchen


For some reason Mark wanted a picture of the safe. Don't know why, but I took one.

The next day is Hoover Dam. :)