A beautiful sight

I'm not sure what it is - but I love the sight of my fruit bowl being FULL of all kinds of fruit. It makes me happy. Here's a current picture:I've been busy packaging up some scrapbooking items that I've sold on eBay. This morning I went with my friend, Angela, to get a pedicure. They even painted pretty flowers on our toes - so cute! Next time you see me - look at my cute toes! ;o) Afterwards we went to lunch and talked - it's so nice to have friends, isn't it? We had a great time (we always do) and I appreciate her friendship so much.

Tyler is currently mowing the lawn. What's that, you say? Didn't he mow the lawn last week? Yes, yes, he did. Why so often? He says that it needs to be mowed once a week...however, I think that's a bit excessive. However, he does LOVE to make his yard look nice - and I certainly don't (read: shouldn't) complain about that. I posted some pictures on the sidebar of him mowing & our planted square foot garden - we already have several little sprouts coming up! :o)

Anna has been swimming in the pool the past few days - I love how much she loves to swim. I think it's important that all kids learn to swim just like everyone learning to drive a stick shift - it comes in handy in life! :o)

Blushing Bride

My sister, Jennifer, is engaged to be married at the end of June. Here are some bridal portraits. Isn't she beautiful?

T A G T I M E

Katie tagged me to do this. Enjoy:

Favorite Person Outside Family: Well, technicall we're all family, right? Brothers & Sisters in the gospel. :o)

Quirks about me: I love symmetry. I like for things to be symmetrical as much as possible - almost to the point of being monkesh (TV series MONK). I also have to have colors arranged correctly - meaning warm colored couches with warm paint on the walls with warm carpet...it drives me NUTS to see a combination of warm & cool colors...

How would the person who loves you most describe you in 10 words or less: beautiful, wonderful, organized, ambitious, lovable, charitable, affectionate, caring, talented, and selfless. (I just asked Tyler since it's hard to boast about oneself)

Any regrets in life: I regret not finishing my first degree in music.

Favorite charity/cause: Currently it is my adoption: http://www.reecesrainbow.com/sponsorpierce.htm

Favorite Blog recently: Favorite blog recently? Anyone who posts is my favorite! :o)

Something you can’t get enough of: Sleep!

Worst job I ever had: I worked for one month in a dry cleaners in Utah. They only paid $5 an hour and I worked harder than in any other job in my life there. However, I did learn how to fold fitted sheets which had previously eluded me.

Worst job you would pay NOT to have: Trash collection

Favorite bible verse: Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets unto His servants, the prophets.

Guilty pleasure: I don't have one right now, I'm beginning a healthy lifestyle.

Got any confessions: Meaning something that no one knows? Ummm, I could spend hours playing tetris and dr. mario.

If you HAD to spend $1000 on yourself, how would you spend it? Does gardening/house improvements count? I tend to spend my money on things other than myself...hm, perhaps a day at the spa? I've never done that before.

Favorite thing about your house: My orange couches.

Least favorite thing about your house: One car garage & the kitchen is a bit small.

One thing you are good at: Singing.

One thing you would change about your circumstances: Having my twins here NOW! And that of course means that I would need to have my house ready for the twins to be here now...naturally.

Who would you like to meet some day?: The prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.

What makes you feel sexy: Latin dancing. ;o)

Who is your real life hero?: My stepdad.

What is the hardest part about your job?: It's not hard right now, Anna isn't a hard child to have. I think it will become more difficult when the twins arrive.

When are you most relaxed?: When I'm alone to scrapbook or watch bollywood movies.

When are you most stressed?: When I have a billion things to do and my house is a mess.

What can you not live without?: The Holy Ghost. My life wouldn't be what it is today without that guide in my life.

Do you agree or disagree about the recent article that reported blogs are authored by narcissists: The blogs that I read aren't negative. :o)

Why do you blog?: I love to journal and this is a fun way to keep others updated on what's going on - plus there's such a huge amount of support in the blogging world! Also, it's a great way to feel connected to friends that you otherwise wouldn't have time to catch up with. :o)

Who are you tagging?:
Rules:
1. Answer the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you
3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category.

Well, I need to choose different people than Katie chose...let me see...
New/ newer bloggers (since we want to share the love and send them traffic)
Debbie & Liz
Bloggy friends:
Melisa & Kristina
Bloggers you’d like to get to know better:
Michele & Cari
Someone you know who should begin blogging:
K.C. & Trish
Bloggers you don’t think will respond, but you hope will:
everyone that I know who blogs!

Maggie Makeover

Happy Memorial Day! We had a wonderful ward picnic at a local park. We brought Maggie along, but she was SO HOT from all of her fluffy fur, that she just laid down in the shade. I determined that today was the day to get her first haircut - and haircut it was! Check the before and after photos:Before

After
Isn't she a doll? I always knew that she was a tiny dog - only weighing 6 pounds. But once you take away her fur - she's REALLY tiny! Anna chose her purple bow and I had to take a picture of it before Maggie pulls it out. I think she's now ready to play at the next picnic!

Lowe's has a 10% off sale on Memorial Day for military and we took advantage of it by buying some paint for our house. We bought the Valspar brand which was already on sale and then with the military discount - it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. We knew we wanted to paint Anna/Katya's room purple, but Tyler then added that Keith's room SHOULD be blue - since he's a boy, after all. Can you tell who's ready to have a son? :o) I wanted the rest of the house to be a nice warm golden yellow color. I'm excited to see it when it's all done. Now we just need to learn how to paint - since we've never done it before. And yes, I would accept any help from anyone who does know how to paint. :o)

Day one on my new plan: pretty well. It's a modified SBD diet, but so far it's working pretty well. :o) I also want to start up a HLSG: Healthy Lifestyle Support Group which will meet every week or every 2 weeks. I really need some support in eating healthy. I feel like so many of the activities that I'm involved in (mainly at church) are frequently accompanied by refreshments which aren't all that healthy. Therefore, I would like to have some support from other ladies who are trying to be healthy, too. Hopefully we can exchange recipes/exercise ideas/etc and become healthier together!

Wifey Day

Tyler was out of town for Mother's Day, so he deemed this past friday "Wifey Day." First of all we went to have some fingerprints done for the adoption, then stopped at the IKEA store on our way home. I'd never been to an IKEA store before - I was really enchanted with it and especially their restaurant which sells a super nice breakfast for only $1.99! The only thing I didn't like about it was that you couldn't exit the store easily - you have to go through the entire maze of a store to get out, which is a great marketing ploy in and of itself. However, I thought they had some nice products, like this. After IKEA we went to the store and Tyler bought me some red roses, which was sweet. :o) We went to Miesse's Herbs to see the iridologist & in the evening we went to the Temple which was wonderful! It was a great day to spend with my hubby! I love you, honey bunny!

Yesterday we had our garage sale (number 3) and it went quite well. We earned $612! Hooray! Then we had the missionaries over and my friend Maria & her daughter, Elizabeth. I taught them to make homemade pizza & homemade ice cream. It was really fun. Then we watched "The Restoration" which was really uplifting.

Today I had choir practice, then church and I played the piano in primary - which I'm convinced is the best calling EVER - and then said the closing prayer in R.S. - I hope I didn't worry the R.S. presidency by my not coming in until the last few minutes! We had some "quiet time" after church which consisted of Tyler & I taking a nap while Anna played in her room quietly. We were so tired from the garage sale yesterday - it's a LOT of work! I am gearing up for tomorrow when I'll be starting my new plan. That's why we had pizza and homemade ice cream yesterday! Plus I now have some herbs to help me with my food enzymes - I don't digest food very well and I am insulin resistant. I'm grateful for supplements that will help! :o) Upward and onward!

Garage Sales/Fundraising

We had our third garage sale yesterday and we earned $612! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated items for our sale. We now have over $2600 raised for our adoption of Nikita & Nastya! God has blessed us so much. It's wonderful to see how he blesses us through other people. :o)

We have another fundraiser in the works. OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE does a charity dinner where they will donate 100% of the earnings to the fundraiser and we thought to combine that with a raffle of gift cards from local companies and perhaps also have some entertainment (singing, etc) during the dinner. Any ideas/thoughts on this idea or other ideas for fundraising is appreciated!

Home Study

Tonight we had our second visit of the home study. I think it went really well - the social worker was very down-to-earth and professional. She is going on vacation next week and so she said she will finish up our home study before she leaves - which is a nice perk for us! Tomorrow we're going to get our ASC fingerprints done. I have 3 hours of online adoption education courses and then we're COMPLETELY done (at least on our end) of the home study. Our dossier application is currently being processed and then we'll begin the actual dossier stuff. Whew! Busy, busy! We're having another garage sale this saturday - this will be our third garage sale for the adoption fund. Several people have brought things by, which has been so nice! We feel so blessed to have such kind friends. We know that God is watching over us and helping us through those around us. :o)

A better day

Today was a better day than yesterday. It's true that each day is a new day. :o) Tyler & I talked it over and we have come up with a new lifestyle plan for me, well, actually, for our whole family which involves healthy food, drinking more water, and doing exercise as a family quite often - including family walks and time at the YMCA. I'm eager to begin this new plan and I feel that it will lead me to the success that I've been wanting. We hope to figure out the details of the plan this weekend and I should begin on monday. So, I went ahead and made these this morning, so I wouldn't be craving them when I start the new plan. ;o) Today I finished up some paperwork for the home study and mailed that, plus an ebay item that I sold.

I planted the square foot garden today: zucchini, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeños, carrots, romaine, spinach, beets, sage, parsley, basil, oregano, sugar snap peas, onions, & broccoli. I didn't know how much I enjoyed gardening until we put together our square foot garden last summer. I've been anticipating the day to plant and it's finally here! :o)

Today

This morning I went on-base to meet with the doctor. I needed my thyroid prescription refilled, a (wii) tennis elbow brace and some information on any weight loss programs offered on-base. I got the prescription refilled with a blood lab ordered (oh joy) and my (wii) tennis brace, but they said they only offer nutritional classes (which I've already taken - they didn't help me). Then I drove to Columbus (over an hour away) for my voice lesson - but she wasn't at home, so I drove back home. (She later called and apologized profusely) Then I had my physical therapy and the machine kept having problems, which was a bit annoying - but I did some reading (yes, you read that right - READING) in an adoption book that I checked out from the library.

I was signed up to substitute teach tomorrow in a middle school, but Tyler realized that he has a PT test in the morning - so I called to cancel subbing. (I'm not too upset about that, let me tell you) I took Anna to the park this evening and Maggie is such a friendly dog - she kept running off after other people. I'm not in the best of shape and certainly can't keep up with an energetic puppy! Needless to say, we didn't stay too long at the park. Anna recently learned how to do the monkey bars and she LOVES it. I'm proud of how quickly she learned it and how strong she is! :o)

Now I'm doing laundry and trying to not think about the dishes in the kitchen that need to be done. I'm craving these but keep trying to ignore the ever-increasing cravings while trying to tell myself that I really just want a big bowl of broccoli. Oh yeah. On the upside, I found a babysitter for Anna on friday - because we're going to the Temple, plus I spoke with the placement adoption agency and things are moving on the dossier - so that's good. We're also having another garage sale this saturday to raise some funds for the adoption. Some good things are happening, which is nice. :o)

Back to the beginning

Most of my trials I wouldn't mind having - except for the weight issues. I cannot describe to you how insurmountable the task is that I have before me. I need to lose 150 pounds. 150! Not 5 or 10 or 20, but 150 pounds. I don't know anyone who is trying to lose that much weight and with so many other struggles that I'm having right now - it's more overwhelming than ever. If you're not up for reading some emotional venting of mine - then this might be a good blog post to skip.

You've been warned.

Where was I? Oh yes, 150 pounds to lose. How could I forget. It was in 5th grade when I realized that I weighed more than the other kids. The school nurse had all the kids in my class come out into the hall and be weighed. Looking back, that was a pretty embarrassing way to do that. Anyhow, I weighed about 20 pounds more than the other kids. That was my first mental acknowledgement of being overweight. As the years went on, so did the pounds. By high school I weighed about 240 pounds. In college I had one great semester where I took a nutritional science course and took up raquetball. I lost 40 pounds that semester and it was so awesome! But that success couldn't last - because I simultaneously developed sleep apnea and gallbladder issues. So, I had to drop school, because all I could do was sleep and have pain. Then my stepdad died. Then some other crummy stuff happened to me. By the time that Tyler & I were engaged - I weighed 300 pounds. 3 months into marriage, I became pregnant at 309 pounds. When I gave birth I weighed 355 pounds. Yeah. I managed to lose some of that weight (thankfully) and I'm now at 330 pounds where I seem to be maintaining. I get up all my willpower, begin the SBD (south beach diet) and lose up to 15 pounds, then something happens, I get sick or I injure myself and somehow I get off the diet and then I'm back to 330 pounds. It's so frustrating, I can't even tell you! I feel like such a failure because I haven't been able to beat this weight trial for my entire life! My doctors on-base are now suggesting weight loss surgery which that doesn't feel right. I don't know what else to do. I have strong faith in God that I can overcome this trial, I just don't know how, exactly. And with each failure, I feel like it's further and further away. I dream that one day I will finally enjoy a healthy body like so many others have. It's just so hard.

Stuff going on

So, I haven't posted in a while - we've been pretty busy. Tyler was in Hawaii last week and it was hard not having him home - plus we all wish we could have gone to Hawaii, too!!! Anyhow, he's home now and we couldn't be happier to have him here. :o) Last night we were going over finances and realized that we cannot afford our summer trips to Utah & Oklahoma. We're quite upset about it. We made those plans previous to our decision to adopt - and now we're so financially strapped from that alone, we just cannot afford another $1500 for those 2 fun trips. And we're sad to upset our family members by not going - but our number one priority right now is to help bring our twins home. And we have to make financial sacrifices to do that. How can we pray for God's help to finance this adoption if we don't make sacrifices ourselves? Anyhow, we're sad about it - but you're all welcome to come visit us here in Ohio!!! (please come!)

We're still doing infertility. I met with the doctor yesterday and he talked about weight loss. He even mentioned surgical methods. I'm not a fan of surgery, yet I can see that I need help in this weight loss struggle. My friend mentioned some success that she is having while attending a medical weight loss clinic, and that idea sounds good to me - but it costs money. *sigh* I wish we didn't struggle with money so much - I love that our family is in the military and I'm proud that we are defending our country, but we would make a LOT more money outside the military. Don't get any ideas - we're not leaving or anything, it's just that I want (read: need) to lose weight - otherwise I won't be around to see my kids grow up and this weight loss clinic idea feels right to me.

Tyler brought some souvenirs back for us from Hawaii. He bought Anna 3 shirts, one of which said: "Someone who really loves me gave me this t-shirt from Hawaii." Tyler asked Anna to read this shirt outloud. She read: "Someone who really loves me gave me this t-shirt from Hell." :D

Happy Birthday!

Our sweet twins turned 4 years-old on saturday. We had a little party complete with angel food cake - since they're our angels! We have a nice little bike for Nastya, but didn't know what to get for Nick - we'll wait and see what he's capable of doing when he comes home! I hope that I won't miss any more of their birthdays in the future! Here is a picture of Anna & Daddy helping to blow out their candles - 4 for each of them: Happy Birthday Nick & Nastya - we love you!!!

Funny adoption joke

There are accidental pregnancies, how about accidental adoptions?

--Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.-

--What is it?-

--Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. Iwent out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.-

--A what?!? An I-171H? As in , we're going to have another baby?!?-

--It looks that way.-

--But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I-600Aforms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?-

--Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night ...-

--What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We werejust messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink!(pauses again) But it was kind of fun.-

--(giggles) It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you lookedgetting your fingerprints.-

--So now we've got our I-171H, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'lladopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, makesure everything's okay?-

--I already did.-

--And?-

--I'm five documents along.-

--Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticatedokay?-

--Just great. There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see thenotary's middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.-

--Thank goodness. And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?-

--I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.-

--Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something likethis happens, but of course I'm happy.

惡作劇之吻

This is what I watched today. Marie & I finished up the 30 episodes of "It Started With A Kiss" or 惡作劇之吻 this afternoon. It's a taiwanese tv show which is currently in it's second season "They Kiss Again" or 惡作劇2吻.
Synopsis:
After an earthquake destroyed Xiang Qin's house, she and her father moved in with the family of her father's college buddy, Uncle Ah Li. To her surprise, the kind and amicable aunt and uncle are the parents of her cold and distant schoolmate Jiang Zhi Shu, a genius with an IQ of 200 whom not too long ago rejected her endless crush on him. Will the close proximity give her a second chance to win Zhi Shu's heart? Or, will her love for him end under his cold words? What happens when there is competition for his heart?

I really enjoyed the tv show - it's in mandarin and there are english subtitles. It refreshed my mind of the chinese that I have learned and helped me become interested in the chinese culture again. Let's face it, in Ohio, there's not very man things to remind me about it! ;o)


This afternoon Anna's friend, Kira, came over to play and I did some more straightening around the house. The social worker is coming on Sunday to evaluate us and I want the house to be CLEAN! It's not an easy task to have every room in your house clean at once, but I'm trying. Tomorrow I'm doing another liver cleanse. Fun stuff. I just love a good ol' cup of epsom salts. Oh yeah.

Pollyanna

I had my voice lessons today - russian is hard to pronounce! I'm working on a russian piece and also a czech piece. I'm excited for them! I'm trying to ocme up with an idea for a recital to help raise money for our adoption. I also had physical therapy today. The pt said to not use the sling, but rather get a tennis brace for my arm. I hope to get one soon - I think it will help my elbow heal faster.

Quick vent: I like to think positively. All the time. I don't even like considering any unhappy scenario. I know that this is very unrealistic, but it's the way that I think. I've had some people mention to me how difficult this adoption is going to be and HOW HARD it will be for the kids to adjust...blah blah blah. I'm tired of hearing the negative - all I can think about it how much love I already have for these precious kids and I can't wait to bring them here and show them how much they are loved. I wish they were here now with me. :o)

Have you seen Disney's Pollyanna? It's a movie that I watched when I was growing up. Anna & I are going to have a movie night once a week - watching the Court Jester last week was what gave me the idea. I checked out Pollyanna at the library and we watched it tonight. I think it was a bit beyond her, but she enjoyed what she could understand, I think. I, however, was crying off & on throughout the movie. My period came on monday and so today was my first day back on the injections. *sigh* I didn't realize how emotionally difficult it is to do the injections until this cycle. I've been emotional all evening and I have HUGE cravings for comfort food. It doesn't help that Tyler's not here to be with me. Back to the movie - it's such a great idea, playing "The glad game" and trying to always see the positive in every situation. I explained the game to Anna and she seemed to be really excited about it. I hope it will help her to deal with unpleasantries in life.

Mail

We've been waiting for things to arrive in the mail and today 3 things came all at once! We got the child abuse paper (stating that we're not child abusers, no surprise there), then we got our appointment for fingerprints and plus I got a paper confirming that I have a job as a substitute teacher. On Sunday we'll have our first meeting with the social worker and her second/last meeting with us will be next thursday (not tomorrow), then we should be done with the home study and we'll begin the dossier. :o)

Geography taught by our would-be president

Hey Philip, you studied geography...did you know that?

Cleaning house

Today I took Anna to school, then started cleaning up. It's amazing how messy the house gets when you're doing other things. I met Anna for lunch at school. There was another mom/daughter combo in the parent's room. I was really looking forward to our one-on-one time for lunch, but I was perplexed why this other mom was talking to me more than her own daughter. It was frustrating because I wanted to give 100% of my 30 minutes to Anna and not to anyone else, but due to how small the room was - I couldn't really get away from this chatty woman. Moving on, I went on a walk with Maggie. She is so funny - anytime any other dog starts barking at her she runs the other way or tries to hide between my legs. It makes me wonder what threatening things those other dogs must be saying. ;o)

Anna & I went shopping at ALDI after her school. Then I made dinner and Pilar & her 3 daughters came over for dinner. I made enchiladas, made with whole wheat tortillas, homemade refried beans - I'm so proud, I cooked them & mashed them all by myself and they were GOOD, corn, and homemade horchata - I'm amazed at how good my recipe is of horchata and the girls loved it, except Anna. Isn't that funny? Horchata is one of my favorites and Anna thinks it's "yucky". Oh well. We went through the drive-thru for some complementery kiddie cones and headed for the park. Only, it really was too cold for the park at 7pm here in OH, so we left about 8 minutes later.

Someone bought the tv I listed on craigslist. I'm happy about that - let me tell you! We're $50 richer! Plus I listed some scrapbooking items on eBay. I'm trying to raise money any way that I can for this adoption. It's consuming my thoughts! :P I found out that I can go to the book club tomorrow - sweet Nicole said that I can bring Anna to play with Celeste (and I'm not the only one who's happy to be going...) so that will be nice. I don't read much, but I enjoy being around people who do - perhaps it's because they're really smart from all of their reading and I want to learn it through osmosis?

Happy Mother's Day

Tyler is in Hawaii and enjoying his time there. He said he'd love to move to Hawaii - if it weren't so expensive to live there. His mission president, Pres Kim, actually lives in Hawaii and he was able to go to church with him and visit his home today, which was nice. Tyler really loved his mission president during his mission in Taiwan. Pres Kim actually retired from the USAF, so that's neat to have that in common - being military and all.


This morning was rough. Tyler was gone last night and I just don't sleep well when he's gone. Every sound in the house is magnified and I just don't like it. I hope this week will fly by until Tyler comes home on Sunday...and so I was up late - struggling to go to sleep...Maggie starts barking to go potty at 5am...so I take her out...in the rain...and then I come in & go back to bed...at 6am Anna comes to tell me that she wet her bed...then at choir practice there wasn't an accompanist, so I struggled to play the piano until Shannon stepped in and saved me...then in RS they had a huge buffet of desserts that I couldn't eat, except for the fruit - but the fruit that I got was frozen, that was a little disappointing...so my mother's day morning wasn't the greatest...but I'm happy to say that it didn't continue like that. :o)

After church Margaret and her husband brought over some garage sale items leftover from their sale - plus I had 2 people at church say that they had some more things for me. Anna & I had a lovely fish lunch and had our sunday sundaes for dessert. (I had my low carb ice cream) Anna & I watched The Court Jester together (a family favorite) and we read stories, sang songs and it was nice - all the many reasons why I love being a mom. :o) Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is hard without my twins. I am eager to have them here and I look forward to actually being their mom next year on Mother's Day. An update on the adoption situation: we're scheduled for our home study visits by the social worker in one week. After that - we are moving on to do our dossier. We've raised over $1800 thus far in fundraising and I'm working to come up with some other ideas in addition to garage sales to earn money.

This saturday the twins will be turning 4 years old. Again, it's hard to not be with them on this wonderful holiday - but we plan to have a birthday party, just the same, and celebrate these 2 wonderful children and how much we love them already. :o)

Garage sale, take two

This is the second weekend in a row to have a garale sale. Last weekend we made $700 in 2 days and this weekend we made $350! I'm very happy with the results, but I am feeling the pain from this day of being up on my feet, packing & unpacking, etc. My feet are swollen and I have a sunburn...but it's worth it to imagine bringing my twins home to our family. Tyler is now in Hawaii for a week-long work trip...yeah, yeah, he has it rough.

In the morning, my friend Sarah, took Anna to play with Leia for a few hours (Anna was THRILLED). After Sarah dropped Anna off - I was trying to find ways to keep Anna busy so I could keep up with all of the customers. She found some markers and paper and began coloring several pictures. Once she had about 4 or 5 of them, she taped them on the side of a table and began asking people if they would purchase them from her - at 25 cents a piece! (talk about a born salesman!) It was so precious - Anna trying to sell some of her art to help bring home siblings. It was very touching, but then - no one was buying them (early on) and so it made her very sad, which broke my heart. I offered a quarter of my own to a man at the garage sale (who also had a daughter with him - I figured that he'd understand) to go purchase one of Anna's drawings. You should have seen how Anna's eyes just lighted right up as she had found her first customer. I don't know why this causes me to cry, but I'm crying as I relate this experience to you all. I'm happy to say that Anna sold all 8 of her drawings today - and only one of them was prompted by me. People can be so kind to others. I am so proud of my daughter. She is such a selfless person and always wants to help other people. I am so blessed to be her mama. She is the one who made me celebrate mother's day.

In a more silly way, here are some mother's day cartoons that I found. Enjoy:

Tagged yet again

My friend Valerie tagged me to do this, enjoy!

What I was doing 10 years ago:
I was 19 years-old...hmmm, that means I was in my second year of college - studying music & spanish and learning how to latin dance! I was even an officer in the latin dancing cultural club at OSU, can you believe it? How I love to salsa!

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Garage sale
2. Garage sale
3. See Tyler off on his work trip to Hawaii and wish I were going with him instead of doing the garage sale
4. Garage sale
5. Recovering from the garage sale

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay tithing.
2. Pay for my adoption and not need to fundraise for it.
3. Pay off all our debts.
4. Help any family members who need financial assistance.
5. Be a blessing to those that I know.

Bad habits:
1. Spending too much time on the computer

Places I've lived
1. Oklahoma
2. Idaho
3. Texas
4. Utah
5. Florida
6. Kansas
7. California
8. New York
9. Ohio

5 jobs I've had:
1. Wife/Mom
2. Cake decorater
3. Disneyworld
4. Substitute teacher
5. Voice teacher

Tag...you're it!
1. Nicole
2. Katie
3. Jana
4. Ilona
5. Cari

Musical Debut for Anna

Tonight we had our ward classical recital. I sang "Ma Rendi Pur Contento" - I feel like it's pretty polished now. My accompanist did a fantastic job, as usual. I had the thought that perhaps Anna was ready to sing at this recital (we have one a year), but I wasn't sure if she would go through with it or not, especially if she had time to think and worry about it. So I didn't mention the idea of it to her until this afternoon. She said, "You mean, sing like the grown-ups? (pause) YES! I want to do it!!!" So Tyler & I had a backup plan, just in case she didn't go through with it - Tyler was conducting the meeting, so since Anna was the first performance (I scheduled the program in order of age), Tyler just stayed on the stand to see how it all went. I was the accompanist for Anna and she sang "I am a child of God" from the primary songbook. I wish that we could have video recorded it - she did SO well! I am so proud of my little girl! *sniff sniff* :o)

Things are crazy busy right now - it seems that we don't have enough time to do everything that we want to do. (I guess that's how it is all the time) Tonight was the recital, tomorrow morning Tyler is leaving for Hawaii for one week (that is one ROUGH work trip, let me tell you...) and I'm doing a garage sale at a friend's house. All. by. myself. Yeah. So, we'll see how that goes. We have to move everything from the last garage sale (done at Shannon's house) to Angela's house and we have to do it in the morning BEFORE 8am (because it has been raining all day long) and that means we have to be up around 5am to get it all moved and situated. So, we'll see how it goes...

Here we go again

I realized something yesterday - I've never really had to work hard at anything. I didn't study in school, but I always did just fine and even graduated from college without too much effort. I don't practice music very often and yet it sounds (at least I think it does) like I do when I sing. I hardly ever mess anything up when I'm cooking/baking, etc. But dieting - that is one thing that I cannot just do well on without major preparation - emotional, intellectual, spiritual, & physical preparation. Perhaps that is why I have this trial - to know what it feels like to really have to work hard at something. What do you have to work hard at? What comes easy for you?

I'm back on my stage one in SBD. I've gained half of what I lost - but I hope it will come off easily. I went on a walk outside today - because the temperature was SO nice. I took Maggie with me. I've never taken a dog on a walk, so I wasn't sure how it would go - but about half-way through the walk, she finally got on my rhythm (which isn't fast, don't be impressed) and I'm thinking that I'd like to take her on more walks with me...which will also mean that I'll be going on more walks - it's a win-win situation here. :o)

I had my physical therapy appointment today - I go 3x a week. The therapist saw that I was using a sling - he said he wouldn't have me wearing a sling non-stop because it will tighten up my arm muscles, which would explain that pain I've had when taking off the sling. I'm supposed to wear it for 3 hours and then off for 3 hours...that will make things much easier!

Voice lessons went well today. We're having a ward classical recital on friday - I'm excited to see how it goes. I think it will be wonderful, but then again, I'm planning it - so I should think that, right? I'm going to be singing my favorite Italian song: Ma Rendi Pur Contento. It feels like I've really been able to polish this piece, so it's quite enjoyable to sing and I have a fabulous accompanist who makes me feel comfortable when I sing. Plus her birthday is tomorrow, so be sure to wish her happy birthday! (don't tell her I told you!)

It started with a kiss

My friend, Marie, introduced me to a Taiwanese tv show. It has 30 episodes per season - I've now seen up to episode 8. It is really enjoyable. Here's a clip, don't worry - it has english subtitles:



Today Marie & I watched some of this tv show, then I scrapbooked and spent some time playing games with my family. It was just a nice relaxing day - which is what I have been needing lately. :o)

Cinco de Mayo

At lot of things are difficult right now: we're reduced to one car - the truck. The car is in the shop and will cost around $800 to fix it; Anna threw up last night so she was home today (she threw up all over the stairs and Tyler - lovely mental image, I know); Tyler is tired of school but he still has until december before finishing his MBA; my arm is still in a sling (and will be for another month); not having my car working means that I can't substitute teach or go to physical therapy for my arm or go to my voice lessons on wednesday; I didn't get to exercise at the ymca (no car to drive) which means that I have less motivation for eating right which isn't surprising because of the negative test on saturday plus the fact that my period STILL hasn't come...*sigh* Aside from all of that, I'm doing okay. It's nice to know that despite hard trials, there are always things that make me smile. I love the muppets and Beverly Sills is such a great performer:

$685

$685 is what we earned in our first garage sale for the twins. During the garage sale, we passed out some fliers explaining about our adoption of the twins. There was this website on it where people can make donations to our adoption fund. I was happy to find that since our garage sale - there has been another $100.21 added to that fund! So really, we made $785 which means we've raised a total of $985 towards the adoption. Wow. I'm overwhelmed at the generosity of others towards us. We feel so loved and blessed right now. Thank you all! :o)

On another note, we've been trying to receive an answer from prayer if we should continue our infertility treatments. Not receiving any answers, we just assumed we'd continue with it until otherwise informed by the Spirit. Then my period was late - a whole week late. I took a pg test this morning: negative. This isn't new for me, having a negative pg test - but when I didn't even think it was possible to become pg (since we're not doing infertility treatments this cycle) it was kind of relaxing to not even have to think about the possibility of being pg. But then my period didn't come...and I had a whole week having those "what if" thoughts. *sigh* I don't have a good outlet for such feelings/frustrations/emotions other than food. I haven't posted anything about my weight loss efforts because they've been at a standstill. I've been sick for a week and a half - so I haven't been exercising, but I've been eating right - until today after I found out I wasn't pg. After the sale today - I took a nap. A very long nap. A 5 hour nap. I woke up at 7pm! My sweet husband went out and bought me this which was so sweet. I feel so blessed to have a sensitive man at my side through everything.

Faith

Last night we checked the forecast for today: 60% chance of rain. It didn't look promising for our garage sale. With all the efforts of ourselves and others to help raise money for our adoption fund - it seemed like such a waste for it to rain on us. However, I exercised my faith in God that if he could bring rain to the pioneers for their crops - he could withhold rain for my garage sale. I feel like my faith has been strengthened today - for we didn't have any rain until the garage sale was over at 3pm. I know that God heard my prayers and that he answered them. In fact - it started POURING rain once we were packing up. It was such a blessing to have such wonderful weather today. Heather & Shannon helped me out so much during the garage sale and we made $500! Hooray! We're so grateful for everyone's help in this garage sale. :o)

This evening we had a couple over for dinner, Ashley & Dorian. I met them at school last fall. We had a great Italian dinner followed by a game of Quelf and just enjoyed time talking. It was a nice relaxing evening which is what we needed after a busy garage sale! :o) I am so happy right now and am feeling so grateful to everyone and for their kindness to our family. There is a video clip called "The Time of Our Lives" by Toni Braxton & IL DIVO, which was performed for the 2006 olympics. The song is very moving and I feel the Spirit when I think about the words. I could, however, do without Toni Braxton's cleavage...but what can you do? Enjoy:

Let's hope for the best

This morning was spent in preparation for the garage sale beginning tomorrow and also occurring on saturday. Everything was organized on tables in about 3 hours - thanks so much to those who came to help: Heather, Sarah, Valene & Marie! Plus I'm so thankful for everyone who has contributed the items to the garage sale - THANK YOU! One girl, Amy, donated several things and when I was asking her why she was giving so much - she said that she felt that through donating she was a part of the adoption and was helping to make a better life for these precious children. Her words really touched my heart. I feel so indebted to those who are helping us. I tend to want to take care of things myself and not ask for help - I feel so uncomfortable asking for things, but then a friend reminded me that this is for the twins to have a better life. :o) Thanks again! Now I just hope that the forecast for tomorrow is WRONG and will bring us sunshine and lots of garage salers! :o) I had a lovely lunch with Valene & Marie at a local mexican restaurant. I highly enjoy authentic mexican restaurants - meaning that not only is the food authentic, but the people who work there speak spanish. And the best news of all: they have HORCHATA! Only one of my top favorite drinks EVER. Rice + water + cinnamon = YUM!

I did a lot of lifting this morning which has made my arm/elbow hurt quite a bit. I decided that I have put off getting a sling (which I was supposed to do back in February...hmmm, let's see...it's now May?) and it was now time to get one. So I did and I can't believe how restricting it is to not be able to use my right arm. Holy cow. It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure...only one more month of wearing it (I hope). I'm curious to see how conducting choir and the music in church will go - using my LEFT hand...ha ha.

After picking Anna up from school, we headed to the bank to get some cash for the garage sale and then decided to go to Graeter's for that chocolate ice cream (low glycemic, even!) that I've been wanting lately. About 2 blocks away - the car shuts down with steam coming out from under the hood - I'm in the middle lane, on a busy street and it's 5pm. AUGH!!!!! I called Tyler and he came to help. Here I am with my right arm in a sling, in the middle of the busy road and feeling completely helpless. *sigh* Tyler finally arrived and we were able to move the car - apparantly it had overheated. Even now Tyler is over there trying to figure out how to fix it. I'm not looking forward to only having one car for the indefinite future. And the worst part of all? I never got that chocolate ice cream. :o(