A quick bollywood fix

I just needed to see this tonight, perhaps you do too:

Pedicure nightmare

Last night Maggie got her back leg toenail stuck in her collar - except we didn't know that that was what had happened. Tyler had taken her outside when she started crying LOUDLY and running around on only 3 feet - it was so bizarre! And she wouldn't let us touch her leg or try to find out what was wrong. :o( Tyler called the vet and they said to take her into the animal hospital this morning (which we did) and they said that her nails were too long and that had explained them getting caught in her collar. The whole thing was so sad - I couldn't bear to hear her cry out during the night. But now she's happy and running amok this very moment. I'm happy to have my puppy girl back.

I had my voice lesson today. We looked at several russian pieces of music and one czech piece from Rusalka. I've decided that in the possibility that might do some sort of recital to raise money (I'm not sure yet) that I should prepare some russian music for it. Here is a clip of Anna Netrebko singing Rusalka, be sure to pause the music beforehand:




It's so beautiful! I'm excited to begin working on new pieces, especially "How Fair The Spot" By Rachmaninoff. I enjoy minor pieces of music and russian music (that I've seen thus far) is full of passion and I'm eager to sing it.

It's amazing

It's amazing how one day you're eating just fine on your diet and you actually begin thinking how easy it is to be on this diet and you wonder how you ever found it difficult to be on the diet. And then the next day, all you want is ice cream and non-diet foods. How can this be? Can someone please bring me some Graeter's chocolate ice cream? I neeeeeed some. At least today, I do

Today I watched little Glitter, which was fun. She's about 18 months, so she's a little more than half of the age of my twins. When we moved to OH, Anna was 4 years old, the same age of the twins by the time they get here. (I wish it were today) Their birthday is on May 17th - we're planning to have a birthday party to celebrate. I'm going to make 2 little cakes and then we'll have a couple of presents for them - for when they come home.

Things are coming together for the garage sale. Our garage is over half full of items and there's still more to come, from several people. I hope that the weather will be nice - right now the forecast is for RAIN. *sigh* I'll just pray for sunny weather and leave it up to God. He knows my needs.

Here is a picture of my sister, Jennifer, who is engaged. She will be sealed in the Oklahoma City Temple at the end of June. Isn't she lovely? This was my mom's wedding dress. :o)

Home Study

I heard from the social worker that the soonest she can come out to visit us is in 3 weeks. I know that in the grand scale of the adoption timeline - 3 weeks isn't that long, but it feels really long. She has to make 2 visits to our home - the good thing is that she will do her second visit 5 days after the first visit. I feel like everyday that goes by is another day without our kids here. And yet, everyday that goes by is one day closer to having them here.

Physical Therapy

I had my first round of physical therapy for my wii tennis elbow. It was actually really nice - they put some electrode thingys on my arm with a warm wet towel over it and the electricity pulsed through my arm/elbow area. It was so relaxing, I found myself wanting to go to sleep! I have (read: get) to go 3x every week for a month. I must say - I'm not dreading it. :o)

No, you're not going crazy - I added a music player to my blog. I thought I'd try it out and if you're on here long enough, you'll realize what a crazy selection of music I've put on there - from opera to bollywood. You're able to select a different song or pause it, if you don't want to listen to anything.

Anna is doing so well with her reading - it's incredible! She read a whole page of the Book of Mormon animated stories today and didn't need help on one single word. Incredible. Her reading skills are much higher than I remember mine being - I hope that she will be a great reader, unlike myself. (one can hope, right?)

I've been scrapbooking lately. I have the desire to be caught up before the twins are here, especially since I'm most likely going to be making the switch to photo books (which can be done online) once I finish scrapping all the pictures that I currently have printed. Then I hope to sell all my scrapbooking supplies (I have TONS) to help earn money for the adoption fund.

Some have wondered whether or not we are going to continue infertility treatments since we are adopting twins. The answer is yes, we will continue infertility treatments until otherwise prompted by the Spirit to stop. The feeling that we are having right now is that we will adopt the twins and then most likely have one more child (a boy, I hope) biologically. I think 4 children will feel right - at least it does right now. :o)

He Shall Wipe Away All Tears

This weekend was Stake Conference. It was a wonderful conference. The talks were very inspirational and the music was beautiful. There were two flute solos between yesterday & today, plus I greatly enjoyed the Stake music that we sang in the choir. I sang my first "solo" with the Stake Choir here in Ohio. It was a nice experience, especially since I've been fighting allergies for the majority of this week. I woke up on wednesday and my throat was sore and I couldn't sing. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to sing today - but with some rest, medicine, & cough drops, it went just fine. I really felt my testimony of my Savior grow today. The talks were all geared towards Jesus Christ. Sometimes when I pray, I can't think of things to say - but when I'm in church all sorts of ideas come to my mind, I think I need to take notes every week so I can be more productive in my prayers with my Heavenly Father. :o)

This evening we tried out our new smoker and make barbecue beef sandwiches. I was pleased with our first attempt. We had a nice meal of it with this family and another family in our ward, ending with a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. I lost horribly, but good company beats winning the game. :o)

I feel very emotional lately - I'm not sure if it's the adoption process, my losing in the game tonight or it just being close to "that time" of the month...but I feel very weepy...of course, I don't need an excuse to cry. Here is something that I struggle with: my emotions come before logic - so usually I don't even know why I'm crying, and I try to figure it out after the fact. Sound familiar to anyone?

Nastya

Nastya has been moved to another orphanage that is for older kids, since she will be 4 very soon (next month!). I'm told that it is near Nick's orphanage, even in the same town, so that shouldn't make things too much more difficult when we go to adopt them. I've been informed that both of their orphanage directors should know today or tomorrow that we are committed to adopting them both. I wonder if Nick & Nastya sense that we are coming for them. We pray everyday for their health and hope that the time will not be long before we are there with them. Please keep them in your prayers!

It's Garage Sale time, oh yeah

My friend, Shannon, is letting us use her driveway/yard/garage to have a garage sale on friday, May 2nd, & saturday, May 3rd to help us raise money for our adoption fund. Donations are welcome! You can contact me at jilldpierce at yahoo dot come if you have anything you'd like to donate. We can come pick it up with my husband's truck - provided that you don't live more than an hour away! ha ha. :o)

I want to know what kinds of plastic wear that you use for your kids? I've seen at a few homes that the moms have cleverly placed a drawer down below the counter to put plastic cups, plates, etc. so that the kids can reach them by themselves. I only have 2 plastic plates and wonder where you all bought yours and if you like them or not.

Today we had our fire inspection. We are supposed to have 2 fire escape plans posted in the house - one upstairs and one downstairs. If it were up to me, it would be some sort of map-thingy thrown together on paper. However, my husband is the one who drew it up and let us not forget that he is an engineer and LOVES to make charts and graphs. Even Anna mentions the idea of making charts for various activities. So, we had 2 quite fancy, color coded maps of how we could escape from the home in the chance of a fire and the plans were even placed in plastic sheet covers. Oh yeah, we're nerdy all right.

"White & Nerdy" - Courtesy of Mr "Weird Al" Yankovic:

Fire Inspection

Today we had our fire inspection. Everything went just fine and it feels so good to be getting that much closer to bringing our twins home. The home study agency called to say they got our application and that the social worker lady would be calling us VERY soon to set up our first of 2 visits.

We're doing a yard/garage sale on friday, May 2nd, & saturday, May 3rd to raise money for the adoption fund. We had someone drop off items yesterday morning and will be parking our car outside of the garage to make room for other items. A good friend of mine, Shannon, is letting us do the garage sale in her neighborhood - they have an annual garage sale weekend and it gets a lot of publicity which is free. I hope that it will be successful - donations, anyone?

Fingerprints

We had our fingerprints done today. That was quick and painless - they said it could be a couple of weeks before we get the results. I sent in our application with some other paperwork to our home study agency. The soonest I've been quoted that we "could" go to the Ukraine is september. I hope it won't be later than that - I'm eager to see my kids!!! :o) We're having our fire inspection on thursday - so we bought a huge fire exstinguisher today. Plus we need to make 2 fire escape routes and post one upstairs and one downstairs. It's amazing what we have to do to prove ourselves as competent parents for adoption! Oh well, it will all be worth it when our kids are home safe & sound. We're preparing for a garage sale to help raise funds for the adoption. It will be held on Memorial Day weekend. I feel so blessed by all the people who have contacted me with items to donate. We feel such love from so many people, it's wonderful!!! That's all for now. Stay tuned for more information!

Keepin' busy

I'm trying to get everything ready for the ward classical recital on may 9th. I think it will be really wonderful - I'm excited for it. Although, it can be stressful with people JUST NOW deciding what they want to perform. I hope it will go smoothly on the actual night. :o)

2 random things I've seen lately:

A UPS man in the Post Office as a customer (UPS man was in full uniform with his UPS truck out front)

I saw 2 men in a truck at the gas station. After they paid, I noticed that the driver had to enter through the passenger door to get behind the wheel because the driver's door was jammed. Then I saw a sign on the truck that said "Handyman Etc." Handy, indeed.

What my name means:

What Jill Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Lunch dates with Anna

I love mondays - because on mondays Tyler & I take turns eating lunch with Anna at her school. Today it was MY day! :o) It's so wonderful to hear Anna say: "I love it when you come eat lunch with me, Mama." It just melts my heart! Especially since I've heard that when children grow up - they want nothing to do with their parents. Of course, Tyler & I are hopeful that our daughter will never tire of our presence...one can hope, right?

I accomplished some things today - I ate lunch with Anna, I exercised at the YMCA, I scheduled a fire safety appointment (for the home study) and mailed out some papers to the home study agency. Tomorrow we're going to get our fingerprints done, which will help speed up the process. Some interesting things have been happening - I'm meeting random people who have either adopted internationally or domestically or have children with CP, it's so bizarre! I bought a dog crate for Maggie through CL (craigslist) and the woman actually dropped it off at my house. Come to find out - she is military and her son has CP. She was able to answer a lot of questions for me. It's amazing how Heavenly Father can teach us through complete strangers! By the way - Denise, will you please email me at jilldpierce at yahoo dot com? Thanks!

I'll walk with you

While I was at stake choir practice this evening, Tyler taught Anna a lesson on disabilities from the FHE manual. Then he taught her this primary song on the piano. I was all choked up from the words and what they mean concerning her new brother & sister who will soon join us. Keith most likely will be in a wheelchair or have difficultly walking and both he & Katya won't be speaking English immediately - so this song really hit home. Enjoy:

Here are the words:

If you don't walk as most people do, some people walk away from you. But I won't! I won't! If you don't talk as most people do, some people talk and laught at you. But I won't! I won't!

I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you. That's how I'll show my love for you.

Jesus walked away from none. He gave his love to everyone. So I will! I will! Jesus blessed all he could see, then turned and said, "Come, follow me." And I will! I will! I will! I will!

I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you. That's how I'll show my love for you.

Big sister Anna singing

Here is Anna singing a song called "I'll Walk with You"

Here are the words:

If you don't walk as most people do, some people walk away from you. But I won't! I won't! If you don't talk as most people do, some people talk and laught at you. But I won't! I won't!

I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you. That's how I'll show my love for you.

Jesus walked away from none. He gave his love to everyone. So I will! I will! Jesus blessed all he could see, then turned and said, "Come, follow me." And I will! I will! I will! I will!

I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you. That's how I'll show my love for you.

My sweet little girl is singing this to her twin siblings, Keith & Katya. Isn't that precious? I have a feeling that Anna will be a great big sister to her brother & sister once they come home. :o)

Cookie Monster

It's official - I can't resist my homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Today we went to visit Valerie and I thought it would be nice to make some homemade cookies for Evan, her son, because he hasn't been eating very much since his surgery and he LOVES cookies. However, this recipe makes 6 or 7 DOZEN cookies. And so, um, I ate some. More than one and less than 10...bad for dieting, I know. But they're SO GOOD. Anyhow, I'm not being too hard on myself over this - after all, it's my very first time in the past 3 1/2 weeks to eat something not SBD worthy. So, starting tomorrow I'm going back on the first phase of SBD, which is more strict, to get me back on track. :o)

I posted some recent pictures of Anna on the sidebar - she looks really cute with her hair in buns and I don't need to cue her for these adorable poses.

More pictures of Nick (Keith) - thanks Valerie!

Here are some more pictures of my little boy! Isn't he sweet? He sure looks sad in some of the pictures - I wish I could just pick him up and make him smile! Don't you?

Crazy busy

Yes, so I've been crazy busy lately - trying to scramble together all the necessary adoption stuff for the applications. Aside from that - everything is quite good right now. I've lost 14 pounds and I still exercise 5 days a week, which is great! Anna is loving this warm weather - she asks to go to the park everyday after school and who can blame her? 60-70 degrees = heaven outside! Tyler is currently filling up the backyard area with dirt - our yard slopes along the back of it. We're contemplating the idea of putting up a fence so that Maggie can run amok out there and when our twins arrive, I won't be as nervous when they're outside, not to mention just having Anna out there now...so, we're on the lookout for some discounted prices on chainlink fences. I think we need about 100 feet of it...or thereabouts. Anyone know of a fence who wants to be in our backyard?

Maggie is doing really well - her personality is so fun and vivacious. She's been doing better with the whole potty training. Translation: we've been taking her out more often so she has been doing her business outside versus inside. (so I guess, we're becoming trained here)

Anna is ready for the summer! She and her daddy have a wonderful morning routine: He feeds her breakfast and if she finishes in time (which she always does) they get to play one game of wii. Anna thrives on it and it's just one more reason why Tyler is such a great dad. (plus he lets me sleep, so he's a great husband, too!)

Tyler is sleep deprived! He gets up and goes to work, drives an hour commute to school which goes from 3:30pm until 10pm and then gets home around 11:30pm, then we talk about what needs to be done on the adoption front, get to bed around 1-2am, then he gets up at 7am to help Anna...plus he's now working in the backyard doing physical labor when he has some free-time. He's exhaused! But he's so wonderful and he takes great care of his family. :o)

New Adoption Blog

I have put together an adoption blog that will chronicle our journey in adopting our kids from the Ukraine. Here is the link:

http://foreverfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/

You can also read up on the twins and make donations on their website which is:

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/sponsorpierce.htm

If you're able to pass this information on to others or put a post about it on your blog - I would greatly appreciate it. If you have any questions - let me know! Thanks!

Forever Family Adoption

My name is Jill. My husband, Tyler, & I have one beautiful daughter, Anna. We are in the process of adopting adorable twins from the Ukraine. Their names are Nick & Nastya and our website for them is: http://www.reecesrainbow.com/sponsorpierce.htm

I want to share with you our story and how it has led us to this amazing adoption process. First of all - we've always wanted a big family. Both Tyler & myself come from large families. Anna was born one year after we were married and she is a delight. Since she turned one year old we have struggled with infertility issues and haven't been able to have another child. Recently we discussed the idea of adoption. Shortly afterwards, I had a dream where I saw the outline of a little girl. She had blonde hair and was about 3 or 4 years old. We determined that we would probably adopt from Russia, since the girl was caucasion in my dream. I discussed the idea with my brother-in-law, Yury, who is from Belarus. He did some research and said that the Ukraine would be a better country to adopt from than Russia. My husband & I prayed about the Ukraine and felt overwhelmingly that it was where our children were. We decided that we wanted to adopt two children - a boy and a girl. One older girl who could play with Anna and a younger boy.

So, in a leap of faith we started the adoption process and chose our home agency and our placement agency. Then I was talking with my friend, Valerie, who has adopted two special needs children herself - one from Uzbekistan and the other from the Ukraine. She introduced me to the Reece's Rainbow website. It was there in the siblings category that I first saw Nastya - and she fit the image that I had seen in my dream. I was floored! I couldn't believe it. And when I saw that she & Nick were twins - I realized that God had answered my prayers, I have been praying for twins for 4 years now! It was an incredible experience.

Tyler & I had discussed the idea of adopting a child with special needs and we felt really good about it, so when we saw that Nick has CP (cerebral palsy) and mental retardation - we were at ease concerning it. I have always been comfortable with those who have special needs - I've worked in nursing homes and become friends with those who had handicaps and truly enjoyed those wonderful people.

And additionally, I want to share with you a promise that I made to God concerning special needs. When I was pregnant with Anna, the first ultrasound that I had showed some abnormalities in her head to body ratio. The doctor was concerned and scheduled another ultrasound for the week after at a different facility. That whole week I was in distress, thinking something might be wrong with our baby. I finally prayed to Heavenly Father and told him that if it was his will for me to raise a child with special needs - that I would do it and that I would do my very best to raise him or her. The following week the ultrasound was completely normal, so I didn't think about my promise that I'd made to God - until I saw Nick. And then I knew that I was being blessed with the opportunity to raise this boy and do my very best to help him have the best experience that he could possibly have.

And so, this is our goal: to adopt these precious twins and bring them home as soon as possible. My husband, Tyler, is active duty in the Air Force. He doesn't make a lot of money, and when we first heard that the overall cost of adoption would be around $30,000 - we doubted the possibility that we would even be able to afford this venture. But, we have prayed that God will help this process unfold in a miraculous way and we hope that with everyone's support - we will bring them home and give them the love that they have not had thus far in their four years of life. This blog will keep you updated on the progress of our adoption process. Please stay tuned for the next update. :o)

We found them

We've found our children in the Ukraine. Their names are Nick & Nastya (we will be changing their names once we have adopted them). We have committed to adopting them and hope to have them here before Christmas, we hope! Here's the link, scroll down to the bottom: Nick & Nastya

Not too shabby

We were up early this morning, dropped Anna off at a friend's house and then drove 2 hours to the NATS competition. I didn't know anyone there except my husband and my voice teacher, Tammi. I sang at 11:36am in the mature singers category. Just before I sang, Tyler gave me a blessing that said I would sing to my satisfaction and to the enjoyment of others. I sang three pieces:

Ma Rendi Pur Contento by Vincenzo Bellini
Come Unto Him (from The Messiah) by G.F. Handel
Come Again, Sweet Love by John Dowland

They all went wonderfully. I was very pleased with my performance. It was Tyler's first time to hear me compete in voice and when I finished the third piece - he started clapping. I was like "no no no no no - you don't clap at these things!" Then one of the judges said: "we should clap, shouldn't we!" My sweet husband was so proud of me and I'm so grateful for him and his support. In the end, I made the first cut - one of the top 4 singers in my category. Then at the awards ceremony, I found out that I won 4th place or "honorable mention" - because there's no payment for 4th place, just a certificate. I was a little sad that I didn't get one of the top 3 placings - because they get paid money, and I was hoping to start off our adoption fundraising with this competition, but in all reality - I've only been studying voice very seriously for the past 4 weeks and being #4 out of the whole state of Ohio in the mature womens category isn't too shabby. So, I'm happy. Feel free to clap for me, if you want.

The great and dreadful day

Today I substitute taught for a high school social studies class - which was infinitely better than the middle school social studies class. This evening we went and played Caylus with Amy and Kacey. It's a great game - but I still don't have it all figured out yet. I need more practice (hint hint, Amy!)

Tomorrow is the NATS competition. I haven't competed vocally since I was 17 years old in college. I remember feeling really young and surrounded by great singers. Now I'm competing in the "mature singers" category - and I'm nervous! Please pray for me - I want to sing well. Here's one of the songs I'll be singing tomorrow - I just love it. Cecilia Bartoli sings beautifully - but her facial expressions are somewhat distracting:

Onward, ever onward

Today I didn't substitute teach - I spent almost the whole morning and early afternoon researching the Ukraine and following the stories of other families who have pursued adoption there. I'm learning so much, yet it feels quite overwhelming. Now the main focus that I have, besides the application itself, is fundraising. I'm trying to come up with some ideas to help raise money. Any ideas are WELCOME! The ones I've come up with are a bake sale or a rummage sale...still thinking how I can apply my musical skills to raise money...

I went and exercised as usual - I'm starting to really "feel" it burn when I work out on the elliptical machine. I'm also doing some weight machines - which I really like. The diet is SO much easier when I can add a few other things in slowly. My friend, Shannon, has offered me a ticket for a free massage (she has two tickets) and we can both go get them after we've lost 20 pounds. I'm excited! I know that I'm supposed to have rewards for my goals, but I haven't set up anything just yet, so it's nice to have something to look forward to! Thanks Shannon! :o)

2 weeks report

Today marks 2 weeks that I've been on the SBD diet. I lost another 2 pounds this week - which equals 8 pounds total! :o) I'm very pleased with the success I've been blessed to have and am THRILLED to add some variety to my diet on the 2nd phase of SBD. This morning I had a chocolate protein shake and for dinner I had a SBD cheese pizza! Hooray for variety! I love it.

Yesterday was a NIGHTMARE. I substitute taught at the middle school for a 6th grade social studies class. They were horrible. They were disrespectful, talked too much and I even caught 2 girls passing a note about how ugly they think that I am. Lovely, just lovely. I don't know if I'm up for subbing for middle school again anytime soon. But last night I watched DHOOM2 with Sarah and that was fun. This is one of my favorite songs, sorry, no subtitles.




Today I had my voice lesson, which went really well. I think I'll do well this saturday - at the NATS competition. It's about 2 hours away, so I'm grateful that I won't be singing until 11:30am! :o) For lunch today I met Carrie, a friend I made at college last fall. We had a great conversation. She said that she feels I'll be a great parent to more children because I have a lot of love to give. I agree with that - I do feel that I have a lot of love to give to more children. In fact, Tyler is worried that I'll try to bring home the whole orphanage when I go! :o) I went & exercised at the YMCA, which felt great. I'm starting to get my heart rate up higher than in the past - which is good.

Based on my birthday:

You are very curious and dedicative. When you are interested in something, everything else has to wait. This is your quality. But if you learn to be more patient and complete what you have started, you will be successful in life. Your Love, You believe in love at first sight. You won't wait to learn more about the person. Vise versa, people who fail to impress you will hardly get a chance to be your friend. Your emotion is on the extreme. You can only love or hate, nothing in between and this often shows in your expression. Try not to end a relationship in a quarrel.

Saying goodbye...

Tonight I watched the final episodes of the FRASIER tv saga, which my mom introduced me to almost 2 years ago. I don't have any cable - I just rent the discs on netflix. I've grown to love the characters on the show and have even cried during various episodes. (Granted, I don't really need a reason to cry at all - it just happens spontaneously if I don't have something to attribute it to) It's funny the things we attach ourselves to. What are your tv favorites?

Today was a great day - I wouldn't mind reliving it over and over like that movie Groundhog Day. I didn't get called in to substitute teach, so I was able to take Anna to school. I then went to exercise at the YMCA and then met Anna for lunch at her school. It was SO much fun to eat with her in the "Parent Room". It was obvious how excited she was to have me there with her - a special treat for my baby girl. Then Tyler came home before going to class and we were able to have some time to talk and play Dr. Mario. I picked Anna up from school and we came home - she did her chores/homework and then we packed up a picnic dinner and went to the park with Maggie. The weather was PERFECT! It was 70 degrees today, with a nice cool breeze. Afterwards we had our bedtime routine and then I folded laundry while finishing up the FRASIER series. It was a nice day.

I spoke with a placement agency this evening. It looks as though it will be difficult to adopt 2 children from the Ukraine - especially to find a girl. Apparantly there are many more boys than girls available for adoption. I am hopeful that we'll find the 2 children that are part of our family. I feel that this adventure will strengthen our faith in God that he will lead us where we need to go and help us grow our family in this uniquely wonderful way. :o)

General Conference

I remember when President Gordon B. Hinckley was ushered in to be the 15 president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served for 13 years as the prophet. I've always enjoyed President Monson, but I kept waiting for President Hinckley to somehow show-up and conclude the conference. However, when I heard President Monson speak during the conference, there was no doubt in my mind that he is the Lord's annointed prophet. I laughed and cried at his concluding talk this afternoon. The church is in good hands. I also really enjoyed the talk for young mothers - it was very encouraging to me.

I've been weighing myself the past few days - and I'm frustrated that I haven't lost any more weight yet, even though I'm following the diet. It's hard to feel motivated when you can see no visible success. Tyler assures me that there will be weeks without weight loss and some with weight gain - but that I should be patient and think long-term. I can deal with that, I just didn't think it would happen the 2nd week. :o(

Maggie is adjusting well to our home, I think. She weighed 5 pounds when we took her into the vet. She is SO cute and has quite a bit of energy, but also knows how to snuggle up - which I can accomodate. :o) No news on the adoption front - we're researching home study agencies and placement agencies. Once something happens, I'll be sure to post.

The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia)

This morning I went to workout - today marks two weeks in a row with 5 visits to the YMCA per week. Hooray! Plus my diet is going well, too. Everything is great - it's a wonder why I ever fall off my diet program? Oh yeah, it's called SUGAR. Well, I'm planning to avoid it this time around and not even trust myself with a small taste...or a big one. :o)

Anna went with her friend, Chloe, to Chuck E Cheese's today - she had a ball. I took advantage of the alone time and cleaned like crazy plus I did as much research on the Ukraine as possible. Has anyone had any experience with international adoption? I'm looking for any type of financial grants or assistance that can help us with the cost.

This evening Tyler & I went to see The Barber of Seville. It was the best opera I've ever seen. The actor/singer who played Figaro did SUCH a great job. It was comical and well sung. Plus we were all gussied up, which is always fun. I saw some friends from college (last fall) and it was fun to catch up with them.

News

We have decided that we are going to pursue international adoption and are looking mainly at the Ukraine or Russia. We'd like to adopt 2 children: one girl (2-3 years of age) and one boy (under 12 months old). My goal is to have them here by Christmas. It can take up to a year, but I'm hoping it won't take that long. We're very excited about it and can't wait to grow our family! :o)

In other news, I have tennis elbow - actually to be more specific - I have wii tennis elbow. Yeah. Fun stuff. Now I'm using my left arm and hoping not to have two wii tennis elbows. :o)

1 week down

Sorry I've been mia - Tyler has been taking the computer with him to his MBA classes at night. Even now he's preparing to pack it up again - so I thought I'd post a quick note. Today marks 1 week from when I started my lifestyle change last wednesday. It has NOT been an easy week, but after perserverance I lost 6.2 pounds this week. THAT feels great! :o)

Yesterday we took Anna to get a haircut - it's really cute! She hasn't had a trim in 3 years. ha ha! Today is my busy day: voice lessons in Columbus, counseling session, teaching voice lessons at home and then tonight I'm doing a presentation for color analysis in YW followed by a baby shower! WHEW! Plus I'm going to squeeze a workout at the YMCA between the counseling and the voice lessons I'm teaching. Yeah, it'll be BUSY, but good. Plus I'm making shrimp dip for the baby shower and I LOVE that recipe, I just hope the other ladies like shrimp!

In fertility news, I called to set up my next cycle for infertility treatments and discovered that the infertility doctor is out of commission for the next 2 weeks...so it'll be another full cycle before we can begin again. *sigh* I have great hopes that we will eventually have another child. I just need to be patient - we've been waiting for 5 years for baby #2, I guess we can wait another month. :o(

I have some other news in the works, but I'm not ready to post about that just yet...stay tuned...