tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11451702870472683242024-03-21T09:34:55.220-07:00Random thoughts and happenings on our way to becoming parents through AdoptionHi! We're Don and Nicole from Washington state. We are approved and pursuing Open Adoption through Independent Adoption Center. If you or anyone you know is looking into adoption as an option, please share our journey. Want to know more about adoption; you can contact us anytime.Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-67162520698998497442017-07-26T15:22:00.001-07:002017-07-26T15:22:07.185-07:00Summer so far<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow where has the summer gone. I can't believe it's almost August. </div>
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I started summer by falling in the lake on Memorial Day with
my phone in my pocket. I hadn't gotten it into the waterproof case and into the
Jet Ski compartment before the Jet Ski flipped sending Don and I into the
lake. Really was pretty funny, except for
my cell phone. Accidents happen and thankfully I not only had insurance for a
full replacement but I got upgraded as well so it worked out better than
expected. </div>
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This summer our project has been gutting the master bath and
redoing all the drywall, removing a build out and putting in a new shower/tub
combo plus replacing the cabinets, counters, tile floor and toilet. The plumbing was redone as well. It looks great and took roughly 6 weeks to
do. We hired the plumber's, tiler's and
drywall experts but did the rest ourselves.</div>
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We also tackled the garden boxes this year by not just
weeding and planting but we also put down landscape fabric and mulch. Everything is growing like crazy this
year. We have lots of tomatoes, peppers,
and blueberries. The grape plant is
growing like crazy too but I'm not seeing any fruit yet. Soon it'll be time to
make and can up salsa and homemade spaghetti sauce and roast up the peppers.</div>
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First harvest today</div>
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End of August we fly to Atlanta for Dragon Con. I can't wait to see all our friends again.
One of our friends who live in the area just finalized their adoption for their
2 boys. I'm thrilled that when we see
each other I can congratulate them all in person. </div>
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There are a ton of celebrities and artists
I'm excited to see this year so I'll be standing in a lot of lines for
panels/photos this year and Stan Lee leading the parade is going to be awesome!</div>
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That’s our summer so far.</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-18631856560303267982017-06-14T11:28:00.000-07:002017-06-14T11:28:25.586-07:004th updates the Charm, right?<div class="MsoNormal">
Where have I been after the disaster that befell us? </div>
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Well we took many months to look at ourselves and our goals
introspectively. Adoption isn’t a certain; going to happen thing. Yes, we do all we can to provide a glimpse
into who we are and to put it “out there” but the fact remains you have to hope
something resonates with someone to inquire because a couple page brochure isn’t the whole of who
you are. Then your agency goes under out of the blue so Stunned is an
understatement. We had no clue what was about to happen. After talking with multiple news outlets we
got the story out there and so did so many other families affected. </div>
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Now, it’s June and we are into our 4<sup>th</sup> update in
our 4<sup>th</sup> year. Updates are a redo of all your paperwork, medicals, fingerprints, and additional background checks. They are a pain to get done but we do it because we must if we want to adopt. We have a new
social worker, our other one has retired and while she’s reached out during our
difficulties it does fall on our new Social workers shoulders. We met last week
for our current update and she is super sweet and wants to help anyway she
can. I was Super stoked she took some of
our old printed IAC letters to alter and send to lawyers and hospitals to hold
onto in case of an expectant mother wanting a placement. I’m still worried it’ll never happen. This is our last year and then I have to
resign myself to be childless. I keep hoping someone will see us and like us
and contact us (who aren’t trying to scam us) but I’m honestly becoming
deflated. The majority of my contacts are folks in Cameroon wanting VISAS and
other such countries with the same expectations.</div>
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So I’m in the realm of independent adoption which means we
are on the web, and we apply for situations through lawyers in our inbox. I’m obviously still on <a href="https://www.adoptimist.com/adoption-parent-profile/6308" target="_blank">Adoptimist </a>and other
websites for us such as our own <a href="http://www.dndadoption.org/" target="_blank">website</a> but it’s a scary place to be.</div>
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Besides that we have recently taken a trip to Miami and Key
West with our friends and had a blast.
Now that may make you think of activity after activity but we just
relaxed for once. We walked, went to the
beach, ate great food, and drove to the keys where we rented jet skies and
shopped in town. It was the calmest vacation we’ve had in a while. We normally
are a go see all the things but not this time.</div>
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The Golden Mammoth on the Boardwalk in Miami</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-42183916996021077822017-02-16T01:22:00.000-08:002017-02-16T01:33:38.139-08:00Depression after failure - We need your help!<div class="MsoNormal">
So With IAC going out of business it’s been a whirlwind of
not only emotions but a WTF do we do now.</div>
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I can say we contacted our local news to bring to light the
problems IAC had and while it wasn’t a perfect piece at least we had our voices
heard. </div>
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<a href="http://komonews.com/news/local/i-just-want-to-be-a-mother-families-agonizing-after-adoption-agency-suddenly-closes">http://komonews.com/news/local/i-just-want-to-be-a-mother-families-agonizing-after-adoption-agency-suddenly-closes</a></div>
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I had a hard weekend recently in light of the closure and
then our Superbowl party where I met the 2 babies who should’ve been our babies
BFFS as it were. If our placement hadn’t failed last August our boy would’ve
been about 2 months older than our friend’s boys they had in November/December.
It was a gratifying day to hold the
babies for 8 hours but at the same time it was devastating. I actually cried
the whole way home in a snow storm meaning it took us 3 hours to get home. Now I know it’s on me and my emotions, etc
but seriously it’s been 4 years and I’m human.
The week leading up to this is what I think broke me. I’ve not had issues when the others were
born, except to be jubilant in their arrival. I love those kids as my own. I watched their parents grow up and then have
them so what’s not to love!</div>
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Today, I find we’re at cross-roads. I’ve contacted, many lawyers and none have
contacted us back. There was a lawyer in
our news piece that I left a message with and here we are 5 days later and no
response to our message I left for her.
I had also contacted a lawyer in Seattle and he took my name and number
but never called me back; even after our social worker emailed him so ya that
doesn’t breed any confidence. These are AAAA Lawyers so how are we supposed to
be confidant with them handling our potential situation. The answer is we aren’t. Thankfully the lawyer we had with our failed
placement is available but I haven’t reached out yet. This is on my to do list.</div>
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We are lucky to have own website on top of other social
media but so far the biggest issue we’ve had is no one shares our pages. Everyone says oh hey grats! hope it happens
soon but no one steps up and shares us. So please if you follow us or even just
read our blog please for the love of all please share our journey because now
without an agency we’re stuck on word of mouth/social media. </div>
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Our personal website is http://www.dndadoption.org/</div>
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Of course we still have <a href="http://fb/" target="_blank">FB</a>, Twitter, Pinterest, <a href="https://www.adoptimist.com/" target="_blank">Adoptimist</a>, and you tube.</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-4346636465888911872017-02-01T01:06:00.000-08:002017-02-01T01:21:06.031-08:00WTF IAC - Time for a new direction<div class="MsoNormal">
Today was not a good day because our agency of almost 4
years has shut down, blacked out, without reason. They have our documents that
we need (and all the other families need and no word on how to obtain them!).</div>
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Ok sure they say it’s because of a changing climate that
they can’t handle it but what of the 550+ people you took money from and aren’t
following through with and I mean especially those families who just paid you a
few days ago. What of the Birth families
who are supposed to have life time counseling that will no longer receive it?</div>
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I’m upset and so are all the other families. This was done in a most shoddy way. Of course no one employed by the agency can
talk of it and neither can the board of director’s which 2 of them are my
Facebook Friends so great but I’m not standing down.</div>
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This is complete bullshit in how it was handled and the CA AG
will be hearing from me tomorrow along with whoever I can call.</div>
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I called an agency today and their response; I know we were
completely taken by surprise – We’ve been working with IAC on a case we have and
all was fine yesterday at 4pm when we spoke.
Now you might wonder why that is and the answer is the Board and those
in charge of the IAC didn’t inform the staff that they’d be losing their jobs
today and so for all IAC it was business as usual. </div>
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IAC handled this in the absolute worst fashion than they
could have. They really should have
informed clients of the possibility, not taken on new clients or taken new fees
towards PPC (google ads), and enlightened us who were waiting. They could have sent the email before
alerting everyone by disabling our community pages. They could have allowed us
the time to request our records be returned to us.</div>
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Now we are all scrambling for new community pages, help, and
just plain support! Our ACs are gone stuffed into a black out with the
bankruptcy. We can’t even thank them for
their service and support.</div>
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The official press release said we were all notified and yet
only about half of us were and after the fact.
I got the email about 12:30pm and some others never got it at all (like
my husband and many friends’ waiting to finalize). Whatever is going on here
isn’t normal and needs to be investigated.
I’m calling the DA in CA tomorrow.
</div>
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If you are a part of the IAC don’t stand by – make your
voice heard. Call the press, write the
press, and make it public how all of us in the triad have been mistreated and
our money and hope stolen from us!</div>
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I’m honestly appalled after 4 years and it’s going to take
some time to sink in.</div>
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I now have to edit all our pages and websites to delete the
now defunct IAC and as of now I have nothing to replace it with. Ya I have a lawyer on speed dial but I had
hoped for what IAC promised and it’s gone.
Time for more research! </div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-7456357317087287362016-12-22T00:22:00.002-08:002016-12-22T10:37:18.485-08:00I'm not dead and we're still trying to adopt<div class="MsoNormal">
So my last post was all about yay! A contact but then she
turned out to be working with multiple agencies.</div>
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BIG FUCKING DISAPPOINTMENT!</div>
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So instead of matching with her after texting for almost 2
weeks we said good-bye and good-luck.</div>
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So now it’s December, almost the end of it actually and I
realize I’ve seriously neglected the blog. </div>
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We were featured in our friend’s blog post this month and
for that we were extremely grateful. She
was lucky to adopt this year after an excruciating wait and for her to feature
us and a few other friends still waiting was a blessing to all of us especially
since she doesn’t update the blog often because you know new parent, work, and
school. She’s quite busy and extremely happy to be. I can’t express how thrilled I am for them,
seriously even though we are still waiting it’s amazing to see our adoption
friends become a family.</div>
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Christmas is upon us and I’ve been ready for a few
weeks. I called early in the month for
gift ideas, made my choices and they’ve been delivered and wrapped beneath the
tree for a couple weeks. This year was an
order, ship, wrap season. I hope
everything we got works for everyone but if not I tried my best with my limited
knowledge. Turns out we’ll be having 16
people for Christmas this year (I
thought we’d have 10 which is doable) and my @400sq ft is going to be stretched
to the max. You see our house is a 2
story so most of the upstairs is bedrooms/bathrooms/kitchen leaving about 400sq
ft. The basement which we turned into
our living room is also about 400 sq ft so not much respite there. If I had known we’d have so many folks I’d
have suggested a restaurant banquet space so we’d all have room and seats. </div>
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What bums me out is I can’t cook us a Christmas dinner. I mean I can but no one has a place to sit so
I opted for appetizers this year. I’m
going to miss the family dinner. I love cooking for family and so this is a
huge bummer for me; although I am still making my cheesecake (drunken cherry cheesecake)
for dessert. I refuse to give that up. I’m also making my Pumpkin bread to
share. </div>
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I find myself this season giving all kinds of positive
reinforcement for others in our agency and it’s often not easy (seriously for
how long we’ve been waiting this sucks not because they don’t deserve it but
because we’ve been passed over so often! But I refuse to be a Debbie downer it’s
not me) but you know I know it makes a difference. The waiting sucks! Period! No matter if its 5 months or 5 years
but the difference is those waiting 5 years are seriously thinking it’s about
time to quit vs those who just signed up thinking it’s gonna happen anytime. I remember those days and then watching those
days slide past as others dreams came true.</div>
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I can only hope that our dream can come through before I say
enough is enough. I’m tired of the almost,
the failed matches, the failed placements.
I try to keep the faith that our family is out there. Since our resent contact
was contacting multiple agencies and therefore we didn’t match with her my
faith is restored in our agency diligence but I wish it’d been before we’d been
contacted. It’s the downside of open adoption. </div>
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I’m also disappointed in our other agency who called me
after we opted for a small partial refund (thus ending our contract). As soon as the check cleared our account we received
a call asking if we’d entertain an EM due a month from now. I was asleep and even my asleep self said No.
You aren’t getting me to re-sign up after our failed placement. If you had this mom you could have presented
her before we said no thank you. I have no faith in them and I’m done but it
doesn’t mean I don’t get upset saying No, or that I don’t cry with the possibility
I just turned down because I do. I get
upset every single time!</div>
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Someday we hope to be parents but I hope it happens before
we say no more as each year looms closer to the no children option. When May
rolls around and we have to update our home study and FBI clearances I guess we’ll
see where I’m at. It’s not a cheap
process and if you have not gotten leads it’s a discouragement and a why? I’m
also bummed our social worker is retiring this month so we’ll be working with
someone new next year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love our social worker and am so bummed she wasn’t/won’t
be here to witness our family being built. She adopted her 4 kids and has
shared such great stories; I’d really hoped she’d been in our corner but 4
almost 5 years in she’s retiring. I sent her a card I hope she’s received. She can’t explain why we haven’t been chosen
and then neither can we or our AC so you know we just plug along. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that’s December – It’s an emotional mix of emotions and
themes.<br />
So here’s Our Christmas tree this year and some of the presents under
it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6g_45zaTTZcQTByYyVbBBhRo_wBmP1Q5nonaWVa1pXeZ9gW-nYXL0rY5CLiJFbkCmuvUz7qKpQWlXTQs1Q6je0atVU3XeGJuV5wWHpAwLc9OLLN-8ECu_fCpQ6v4vNUDocH-IvELbchM/s1600/IMG_7389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6g_45zaTTZcQTByYyVbBBhRo_wBmP1Q5nonaWVa1pXeZ9gW-nYXL0rY5CLiJFbkCmuvUz7qKpQWlXTQs1Q6je0atVU3XeGJuV5wWHpAwLc9OLLN-8ECu_fCpQ6v4vNUDocH-IvELbchM/s320/IMG_7389.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-419377348208696082016-10-25T23:31:00.001-07:002016-10-25T23:48:11.045-07:00A Trifecta? Maybe and I hope so....<div class="MsoNormal">
The Trifecta?:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ok, It’s a normal everyday Monday and I had to run errands
because, well lazy weekend. I got our 3
year LMHL letter in the mail today. YAY!
Now to fill it out and send it in!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then our AC returned our call from late last Friday
regarding some up-coming changes to the website I had some questions on. While she couldn’t answer them outright she
did send for more info so I should know within a few days. Again I see this as a win.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh, look a call from ?? from IAC ok why are they
calling. Holy Moly someone is looking at
us and uh YES!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh but wait what I actually said is please find out more
because we just had our lives shattered a few months ago and I don’t want to be
considered if we won’t be a good match.
Now you know 6 months ago I’d have immediately jumped yes, yes, yes call
me!; Today not so much. I am THRILLED we
are being considered but I want to be sure it’s a good fit. This is the sad face of adoption. This is the reality that happens that most of
us don’t talk about if we’re long waiters. I want this to work out and be the
ONE but I’m also resigned to the fact she could choose another family or to
parent. Adoption is amazing and
beautiful if a painful, emotional route to a family but I still keep the faith
it’ll happen for us one day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To me, on paper she is a perfect match for us but until we
talk I won’t know. Here’s the one thing I do know, this potential match if it
happens, no one will know. I cannot put
my family and friends through what we went through previously. Only if it’s a success will anyone know. Sorry family and friends but it benefits us
all in the end. Yes, I’m all for Open
adoption but not the heartache that can happen from it not happening. (Believe me someone or two or three in my
adoption circle will be hearing from me because um high emotions but I trust
them to say nothing and let me vent). I’m hoping our check in tomorrow gives us
good info to move forward. I hope we can connect and get a rapport going. So many emotions on all sides if you haven’t
been here you don’t explicitly understand. I don't expect you to but please don't suppose because I posted this that we are matched; we aren't. It's simply a contact and most of those go with the wind, I hope not here but I always hope that way but the fact is until we match, get relinquishment, and then get home it isn't a done deal. Even then we have to go through extensive post-placement reviews by the state to be sure everything is going as it should. So it's a brutal few months even after the birth/placement (should it happen). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I may sound harsh or cold but honestly I’m not. I’m protecting everyone’s’ hearts, including
our own and the mother in question, it’s her child until she signs
relinquishment's. I want nothing but the best for the child and their mother and
I do hope it’s us but if it isn’t; it isn’t. I can’t help and won’t change who
we are or what a mom may want for their baby. I want nothing more than to have
a mother we really connect with who has a support network and open adoption in
her heart. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s rally! Go team Davis!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Share our website, <a href="http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/donnicoleadoption" target="_blank">IAC pages</a>, <a href="http://dndadopt.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DNDAdoptionPage/" target="_blank">FB</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xerianne/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Xarelise" target="_blank">Twitter</a>
and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1FkDS8nkI3uvYQo8AZSCw" target="_blank">youtube </a>pages (all linked here).</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-2788452237209688122016-10-02T23:52:00.002-07:002016-10-02T23:52:27.406-07:00September <div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been awhile but we did go to Dragon Con. We had an absolute blast with our friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did discuss what happened in TN and then we moved
on. It was the best medicine!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went to concerts, Balls, and a rave. We had our Best. Con. YET!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can’t wait until next year! Our tickets are bought and
another of our friend’s from Seattle is also planning to go. We’ve asked her to go the last couple years
but it hasn’t worked out so next year should be great as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The unfortunate issue is Don picked up a cold and on our
flight home it started to manifest. A couple
days later I was down for the count. His
was a head cold of a few days with a slight cough that cleared up within 5
days. I got the lung infection of
Bronchitis that had me way under. When I
first got sick I thought ok in a few days it’ll go as his has; that didn’t
happen ( I haven't been sick like this in years - a couple days of sniffles but not down and out sick like this was!). I got the cold and it started on
day one as a sore throat and a head cold and by day two it was in my
lungs. I waited it out with over the
counter meds and lots of sleep for a week but then it was clear it was more
than a cold. I went to the clinic and
the doctor was worried I might have a severe case of Phenomena. Luckily my X-rays showed it was just
Bronchitis. A bunch of prescriptions later I was sent home. So for the next couple weeks I took my
steroids, Antibiotics, inhaler, cough medicine, and cough syrup and I was
beginning to feel better. So that was
my September. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fortunate to be better and was able to make my friend’s
wedding. I was thrilled to be a part of
her special day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now it’s October and it’s a reminder that soon we’ll be a
part of the National Last minute Hospital List for our agency. Honestly I thought we’d have the paperwork by
now but I guess it’s a couple weeks out so there is still time for the letter
to arrive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is the last minute Hospital List?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It simply means we’re on the list for all the areas our
agency is involved in (meaning where they have offices). It’s really just a
finite second chance because they really don’t have that many last minute
placements but it is something better than nothing and a hope for a future of
becoming parents.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I await that letter so we can be included in Last minute
hospital situations. We are also not far off from the top 50 longest waiting families
so again more hope of even more exposure in our wait.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until then I look forward to friends and family days (yesterday was a friend game day and it was 13 of us so I can't wait to see how it happens the next few months!) and
look forward to the holidays this year.
My brother and his family moved home in August so I can’t wait to spend
it with them after 4 years away. I’ve really missed them and am looking forward
to this year. Today they were supposed to come visit but something happened and they couldn't so hopefully soon they can come visit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6IM-Ub3paOk46QsjjYTx_08nB6kqe7dciQz3ADjiDxfsaeA4pwWyy0gZcnUBfds26dnwPDapItSDmFAUzX3-Y6QiehkFjt6RBOJlOD_8rDpiS722k7OtcEhdYCrp0c8BH0hPg8ZHeB7U/s1600/Screenshot+2016-01-29+16.22.42+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6IM-Ub3paOk46QsjjYTx_08nB6kqe7dciQz3ADjiDxfsaeA4pwWyy0gZcnUBfds26dnwPDapItSDmFAUzX3-Y6QiehkFjt6RBOJlOD_8rDpiS722k7OtcEhdYCrp0c8BH0hPg8ZHeB7U/s320/Screenshot+2016-01-29+16.22.42+copy.png" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/donnicoleadoption" target="_blank">Our agency site</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-14619612399808313932016-08-26T14:35:00.002-07:002016-09-06T16:34:26.398-07:00We Survived a Failed Placement<div class="MsoNormal">
So I’m starting this post off negatively but if you’ve
wondered where we are it’s because we had a failed placement and it's taken me awhile to process it and write it out. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now before we get into the thick of it let’s talk
basics. Back in May we signed with a
second agency and after a possible match, which I was dragging my feet on and
then on day 3 the agency said wait, whoa don’t send in the match fee, we moved
on and would eventually match with K. (yes another K name).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now K was a quiet but an honest young lady. Our attorney however put a doubt in our mind
and it would cause some chaos that I’d maneuver in just a few very
stressful days but it worked out. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We matched the end of May and by June I was working the
attorney circuit looking for an attorney to represent her and I planned to go
out and meet her and her son. It was an awkward
meeting because again she was a quiet person and I’m not good with small
talk. However, I found her to be sweet and her
son to be a typical 3 year old. I
enjoyed meeting and spending time with them both. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So we were texting everyday or every few days and things
seemed to be progressing in a natural way.
She was working on getting herself in a better position once birth and
placement happened and we were trying to make sure she had what she needed as
she needed it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now the rub is; looking back; that she hinted at the things
that would eventually undo our adoption plan.
Her family was happy she had an adoption plan they didn’t support her at
all. She used to be close to mom until….(not
important). So ya the signs were there but I didn’t catch them per se. I think I instinctively got it because I was
so guarded but it wasn’t there at the time in the fore front. They always say
in adoption literature and blogs if the family isn’t supportive it’s a BIG RED
FLAG! Because 9 out 10 times they come forward at the hospital and offer
support thus screwing the adoptive parents who’ve been supporting them for
months as was the case with us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Incoming RANT: </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh how I’d love to be able to get restitution on what we spent on support but you know it’s not an adoptive
family friendly environment, in fact we have zero protection in these
matters. Honestly we’re the ones taking
the financial and emotional risks (and the damn scammers that come with that –
hello emotional trauma; again no recourse – WTF!!!!).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Ok Rant over and I feel better, moving on…..</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what happened in our case? Well the very simplified
version is she asked for a day alone to reflect and have time to which we
agreed. Our friends were coming into
town that day from out of state so we’d only planned on stopping in to visit
her and the baby in the morning and then heading out. She however then sent the late night text the
night before asking for a bit of space so we obliged. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We met our friends at a restaurant/pub in the area where we
were staying. We had talked of going to
the zoo or maybe visiting another local historical home. Unfortunately while my friend and I were
outside I got a text asking me to come by first thing in the morning that she
needed to talk to us but everything was ok. I showed my friend and said that’s
it it’s over she’s going to parent. My friend
the forever optimist said no, you don’t know that, just keep the faith. I knew.
She’d call less than 10 mins later to tell me that she couldn’t do it
and that she was only doing it because she didn’t have support and now she did
and she just couldn’t go through with it. So bottom line is mom abandoned her
when she was pregnant and homeless with a 3 year old but as soon as baby was
born in the hospital no way could baby go to a family outside theirs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now It actually happens quite often but if I’d
read the signs properly I’d have had those questions answered before we ever
got to delivery. There were other signs, some quite blatant but I’m not into
the details just the basics here. Mind
you during this time my mom is excitedly asking me if she can post pics and
info and I keep her at bay for 2 days and then this happened and I texted “She
is going to parent” ya that’s not how I wanted this to go. As much as I wanted it to be right, it wasn’t. I wish her the absolute best, honestly. She is a good, kind-hearted, and loving lady. She has 2 boys to raise and I do hope that
offer of support for her and the kids continues to be there for her. I will never not think of her and hope she is doing well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now the best part is we have friends in with their son from
out of town visiting when I get the phone call.
Don, our friend’s hubby and their son are off playing games and I want
Don to have a good day. I walk off to
the bathroom not once but twice during our visit to cry in a stall. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My friend agrees not to say anything and buys me a shot of
vodka (so glad to not be driving!), which woo took me a few sips to
finish. We then decide to go downtown
and walk around (mind you my friend knows we’ll be leaving and wants us to see
the city we’re in before we go. Also
note Don doesn’t know yet!).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our trip to downtown Nashville to shop, walk, goof off, and eat,
they drive us back to our car and follow us back to our friend’s place where we
are staying. It wasn’t until they left
that I told Don what had happened 10 hours earlier. We talked and he went to bed, I then went
downstairs and into the family room of our friends where we are staying and told them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I have no idea how I was able to keep it together for 10
hours before telling Don but I did because I wanted him to have a good day with
our friends and not think about the adoption. He even said why didn’t you tell me and I told
him X and X were here and I wanted us to have good memories and a great
visit. Mind you we normally take a trip
to Atlanta for Labor Day so we’d cancelled that because hello, becoming parents is top
priority, but ya now it’s cancelled and we aren’t. So the trip home was rather
somber as we explained where the baby was.
We had a car seat and stroller combo and a newborn sleeper that had to
be shipped home. I even had my carry on
pulled by TSA because of baby stuff (my carry on had our diaper bag with
clothes, diapers and wipes) and we had no baby; ugh!(side note the guy was super nice he was just doing his job). However the best part was we could’ve taken
the baby stroller/car seat combo and baby wrap back for a refund but we chose
to bring it home as a symbol that we will be parents! We both still know we’ll
be parents but we’re waiting for the right person to come along and make it happen
for us and expand our family.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The planets must have aligned because next week we are going to Dragon Con and meeting our friend’s. We definitely
need this trip to be ourselves outside this process. We found new cheap flights and free hotel which is beyond abnormal (bye-bye points we’ve spent you all and
then some). I’m super excited because
just last week we couldn’t go and I was a bit mopey. I’m super excited to go even though half our
friends can’t make it. We’ll have a
great time with our friends who experienced our heartbreak with us and helped
us through that. Did I mention I'm super excited!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>So where does that leave us now:</b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are coming up on 3
years live in a short few weeks and we’re only 8 families out of the top 50
with our agency, which means the 50 longest waiting families so maybe this is
where we are meant to be. Who can say for sure? I do know that yesterday I opened Instagram
and I saw this posted by a friend and fellow long waiter in this process, who
has recently adopted, and it really struck me so I asked if I could share it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcvPFU8QZL4oaCuurSJEzytcAjZGGQpiot1M1QVhZE0pgQ6Sj2eq8nCOvvMpCFiURZb7tZcM9PfykDiSRjD99b3uzpHPl6u6SiBvtvCoV1P12DubozX8Ce9IPwPZdh1gRSOFz3RWxMh0/s1600/14088723_1261113480588835_1101887751_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcvPFU8QZL4oaCuurSJEzytcAjZGGQpiot1M1QVhZE0pgQ6Sj2eq8nCOvvMpCFiURZb7tZcM9PfykDiSRjD99b3uzpHPl6u6SiBvtvCoV1P12DubozX8Ce9IPwPZdh1gRSOFz3RWxMh0/s320/14088723_1261113480588835_1101887751_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that's it we've survived a failed placement and are so very lucky for our support network. We have adjusted and are moving on in the right direction. Hopefully our meant to be is just around the corner.</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-60967538431084068242016-07-18T00:24:00.000-07:002016-07-18T15:42:31.824-07:00It's SummerWow it's July and I haven't posted in quite awhile. Life has been crazy busy since our last post in May.<br />
<br />
So after our trip to Florida we settled back into the daily life, Don going to work and me working on the adoption stuff, pretty much non-stop. We did a bunch of things around the house to keep busy and Don helped me in the garden to weed the overgrowth. Sadly I've been busy and the weather hasn't cooperated as much as I'd like so the weeds are back and I have a ton of work to finish up out there.<br />
<br />
In June I flew to Nashville and met up with some friends I'd never met. I know sounds strange but I've "known them" about 9 years thanks to World of Warcraft and we were finally able to meet up in real life. Now, I've actually met one of their sons 2 years ago in Atlanta for Dragon Con and Don has met 2 of their sons who also played with us so I wasn't worried. Some of our best friends we met through our guild in game. Of course it was over the course of years before we agreed to meet anyone but they have become some of our best friends and being able to see them is always great! I even drove to Knoxville for a few days to spend time with my best friend. Don was on a business trip but was able to drive from Ohio down to TN on Thursday and we stayed with our friends then left in the morning to catch flights out of Nashville. It was really a great trip.<br />
<br />
Summer upon us we planned for our friend and his son to come for a visit. That is always a great time over the fourth having them here. I really wish we saw them more than 2-3x a year but it's life and we all move to where we live and work. We're lucky to still be in active (not just Facebook friends kind of contact) contact over the years we've known each other. We had hoped to stay here for the fourth of July and then drive to Oregon with them but it didn't work out. You see we'd won a weekend stay at the beach through a charity auction last year and we needed to use the time. Unfortunately, his Son is in swimming so they couldn't go due to his matches but we did the weekend following their return home.<br />
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Cruising the lake on the boat</div>
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Jack loves being on the boat - it wasn't warm enough to swim but still a fun day</div>
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The 4th of July BBQ</div>
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One of the fireworks</div>
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The drive to the beach on the Oregon coast was interesting. It's a part of Washington and Oregon we don't usually see. In fact we've never been to the Oregon coast so it was fun to see and visit. The beach was great albeit cold. We unfortunately had a weekend where it poured cats n dogs 90% of the time. We did get a respite on Saturday morning and took the opportunity to walk the dogs down the trail to the beach and then along it. Two miles later we were back at the house just in time as the rain re-started with a fury about 30 minutes later. We decided to leave on Sunday instead of Monday so Don could get a full days work in and boy that was a drive home. The roads in and out are two lanes so we get 30 minutes past Astoria and then we're at a stop. Accident Road closed the vehicle says as it passes our parked vehicle. Ah ya ok so how long to wait? Well we debated the wait and turned around. Needless to say our 3 hour drive turned into 6. It was a long day and made me glad we'd come home a day early.<br />
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Our view from the beach house</div>
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I'd say they loved their beach walk</div>
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The trail to the beach</div>
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Little beach shrine on the trail</div>
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When we said we were going home - ya they didn't want to go</div>
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As soon as the car was packed (mind you it had been raining) this was our last view from the house</div>
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Next month we are flying to visit friends in Atlanta and will hopefully hear that their foster daughter is their adopted daughter (meaning mom has signed in front of a lawyer so the adoption process can begin). Things are in motion but it's Foster Care Adoption so anything can and has happened to them. Crossing our fingers this one comes to pass.<br />
Happy Summer to All!Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-38060817928266903642016-05-13T00:44:00.000-07:002016-05-13T00:44:14.801-07:00A Crazy Busy 2 weeks<div class="MsoNormal">
All the crazy is over and our 4<sup>th</sup> home study
update is done. Every year we get that
email from our adoption coordinator that our fingerprints are due and it’s the
signal that our home study update is due shortly after. The fingerprinting is part of the FBI
clearances due every year. It’s always a
difficult milestone to reach but this year they added additional papers to be
filled out that I didn’t know about so it took a few trips to the police
station and a phone call plus a print, form fill out, scan and email in order
to get our fingerprints processed.</div>
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On top of the complications with getting all the correct
paperwork for that was the notice that our doctor was closing. Insert panic! We were able to get the
scheduled appointments but I am so upset she is moving and closing the
office. We’ve been going to her for 13
years and in our small community she is like family, she knows us. We both saw
her today for our updates and I wished her well but I will miss her. We hugged and said good-bye but I always
imagined her taking care of our new family once we adopt. She was perfect as she adopted her 2 kids and
knows how much it means to be personal and not judgmental. I hope we find a new doctor who will be the
same. It’s part of my interview process
now. </div>
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Our home visit also brought us some sad news that our social
worker of the last 4 years is retiring at the end of the year. I honestly felt a heavy brick hit me when she
told us. I, again, pictured her seeing
us with our family for post-placement visits.
I love her she is such a great woman doing an amazing job who also
adopted 4 kids so she completely understands the emotional roller-coaster of the
wait, the paperwork, and the parenting of adopted kids she’s often shared. </div>
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Fast forward a week of scammers trying to get us in their
web and missed international phone calls and emails (which we couldn’t help
anyway since we are going for domestic adoption) and she forwarded an email
with some situations from an agency she’s worked with many times before. So after reading tons of legal paperwork, I
signed us up. Yes, we are now with 2
agencies on top of our complete on-line presence. I am hopeful that we will connect this year
with a birth family. So if you know anyone thinking of adoption please forward
our <a href="http://www.dndadoption.org/">website</a>, blog or <a href="http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/donnicoleadoption">agency page</a>.</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-57609487461497627412016-05-02T18:40:00.002-07:002016-05-02T18:40:55.277-07:00Three Days and Three Theme Parks - Our Mini Vacation <div class="MsoNormal">
The time for our mini vacation to Florida started at 5am on Saturday and all was going well and it looked like we'd be leaving a few minutes early but then our flight out of Seattle was delayed an hour. We arrived
in Orlando at 5pm and luckily the rental car was really easy to pick up so it took us
no time to get out of the airport and on our way to the hotel. Before heading to the hotel Don wanted to find the area that used to be the naval training base where he was stationed and we found it - some buildings are still there but it's been turned in houses and lots of parks so then we headed to the hotel to check in. It turns out the hotel was just a couple miles the other
side of Disney and recently opened in February so at night you could see some of
the fireworks which was cool. The other amazing thing was no thunderstorms the entire time we were there which has never happened before.</div>
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On Sunday, day one, we went to Universal Studios and Island
adventure. Island adventure was a
blast. Loved the Jurassic world water
ride and then we moved on to Hogsmeade where we rode the rides, we had lunch at
the Three Broomsticks complete with a butter beer (sweet butterscotch cream
soda), and then moved into Dr. Seuss land.
We didn't take the train to the other park though the wait time was an hour. After making our way through the Island Adventures areas we decided to
walk over to Universal Studios which takes about 15 minutes. I really wanted to ride the minion ride and
even though it was a long wait time it was worth it. It was such a fun ride. We also went to
King's Cross and took pictures with the night bus. I wish Don had taken some video of the
interaction because the shrunken head was hilarious. It was getting close to closing time so we
watched the parade from a park area within the park and then walked back to the
city walk, bought a couple shirts and left for dinner.</div>
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Island of Adventure Harry Potter World</div>
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Butter Beer - a sweet Butterscotch Cream soda</div>
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It indeed leaves a mustache</div>
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Great themed area for the kids</div>
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Monday was Epcot, which is having the flower show right now. I really didn't know what to expect at Epcot
outside the Themed food areas. We really enjoyed it and the best ride was by far the Test Track. It was a
nice leisurely day and we followed it up with a trip to Medieval Times for
dinner. </div>
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The couple on the left of us was actually from Seattle which was cool and then a couple with their kids came in a bit late and were from Upstate New York. I had a blast talking, laughing, and cheering with her and her 9 year daughter. We had a blast!</div>
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Morning arrival</div>
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Couldn't resist Lady and the Tramp pics </div>
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Bought some teas I've never seen in stores here</div>
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Piglet and Eeyore Topiary</div>
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The match was over and our Knight lost but we had a blast!</div>
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Tuesday we left Orlando and drove to Tampa to Busch Gardens,
another park I wasn't sure what to expect outside lots of roller coasters. I knew when I bought the tickets ahead of
time they had Giraffes, Zebras, Antelope that you could pay extra to go out and
feed but what we didn't know was it's actually a conservation zoo for animals
from Africa and Southeast Asia. Loved
it! Favorite ride of the day was Cheetah Run.
We finished out the day with the river rapids ride and of course we
ended up under the waterfall so we were thoroughly drenched! We walked around
trying to dry out before getting back in the car to find an Italian restaurant
we'd looked up while planning in the park where to eat dinner in Tampa. Amazing dinner! We seriously loved the
ambiance, food, server, and owner who does all the cooking. They really made us feel like family so if you're in Tampa and want great food try <a href="http://www.laterrazzayborcity.com/">La Terrazza</a>. It is
in the historic district and so worth the drive. We drove back to Orlando
feeling completely satisfied and tired from the day.</div>
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Loved this recycled art of a cat and dog</div>
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He followed me everywhere I moved - I think he loved the bright blue case on my phone</div>
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Only one set of tigers were out but hard to photograph </div>
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Feeding the birds fresh apple chunks</div>
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We took the train around the park and the Zebras started running after us</div>
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We had planned on driving to Daytona on Wednesday to kill
some time before our flight but with the work week traffic it was going to be
an almost 2 hour drive there and back so we scrapped that and I found an
alternative in Orlando. We visited the
<a href="http://www.leugardens.org/">Botanical Gardens</a> instead and that was amazing.
I've never seen so many huge oak trees or that many roses in one place.
It was a huge garden and was a great way to fill the last day in Florida. I also like that the food grown is donated to charity, they have a vegetable and herb garden along with a ton of citrus trees. We then went to the airport and bonus our
flight was going to land about an hour early.
Huge Bonus because it usually takes 6 to 7 hours to fly home from the
east coast and it only took 5 meaning we got home early enough on our late flight to unpack and
relax a bit before bed.</div>
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One of the oaks with a large vine coexisting together</div>
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The arid area was filled with varying cactus blooms</div>
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One of the largest rose gardens I've seen</div>
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I liked the colorful foliage</div>
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Thursday was an early day since our social worker was coming
out to start the home study renewal, which is due by June and includes her
coming out to the house. She told us
she's retiring in December and that kinda bummed me out. She has been so great the last 3 1/2 years with doing our Home Study and checking in on us to see how we're doing that I hope we adopt before she retires so she can see the baby and us as
parents in the post placement visits.</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0Orlando, FL, USA28.5383355 -81.3792364999999928.0917165 -82.0246835 28.984954499999997 -80.733789499999986tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-62956320577311207442016-04-15T20:45:00.000-07:002016-04-16T10:44:20.054-07:00Learning to make an Adoption VideoSo making an adoption video should be easy right?<br />
Well, not as easy as it may seem. I spent 7 hours on Saturday uploading and editing to create a video only to upload it to You Tube and have it watermarked the whole way through smack in the middle of the video. UGH!!! So much time wasted and now back to square one which is buy a different program and download it. So I bought one and it wasn't the same at all to the one I had used before, although from the same company meant back to that learning curve I'd had the day before. That turned into another frustrating experience so I read a bunch of reviews and bought yet another program. Back, again, to square one after download.<br />
So I'm getting the hang of this new program but it's still time consuming because it comes with only 2 templates and they are in no way what I wanted so I spent Monday downloading templates, titles, etc into the program. I then started a project, got half way through and tossed it out. Tuesday I actually produced the video and it was pretty good but now I needed to learn the audio so off to You Tube school I went. Audio was pretty intuitive but I was just missing one key component Thanks You Tube guy!<br />
So now the audio is done and I plug it into the video so I produce it and can't get it to save in an up-loadable format for our website, so I stopped because after 4 days of roadblocks and frustration I needed to step away.<br />
Wednesday was our 20th Anniversary but Don is out of town, so I'm determined to get this thing done and uploaded. I produced it a few times and then made more changes and long story short I finally got it to save in the correct format for upload to the website so I upgrade our website to handle video so I can forgo using the you tube video and it keeps having an error on upload. I went back and produced every usable format of the video to try uploading, none of them work. I sent in an email to customer service and thankfully they were really nice about the situation. I was able to load the video to one drive, share it and they were able to upload it directly to our website for me. Turns out the loader was timing out before the video could upload and looping which was causing the error. So while I had no trouble uploading it to You Tube, our internet connection was too slow for their timeout (Life in the burbs). Thankfully, as of next week our internet speed will triple (and still be behind the cities) and it shouldn't continue to be an issue. <br />
Learning new things can be frustrating but I am so glad I took the time to learn them. It will really come in handy later when I am piecing together videos and pictures of our child to share with the birth family (if they want them) and our own families. I plan to get making videos of our travels until I get all the components ingrained and no longer have to think about what I'm doing. My aunt does this for the family but she is the only one until now. As frustrating as it was I was having fun in the end learning something new and useful once I got the right program for me to use.<br />
If you're interested in our video it can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_LaSpsnfS8" target="_blank">Here</a><br />
In other news Don and I are actually doing some fun stuff for our anniversary this year (although late) and I can't wait to share it all once it's over and I have details and pictures.<br />
Have a great week everyone!<br />
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Fun in the sun with family on my cousin's sailboat</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-57105199494223793322016-04-05T17:02:00.000-07:002016-04-15T19:29:23.418-07:00Remembering grandma and Family time<b>Remembering Grandma</b><br />
Two weeks ago my uncle called to say he was planning a trip up the following week to spend time with family and to see grandma. So we talked about getting together while he was here, etc.<br />
Well, grandma passed away two days later surrounded by all of us who live here. Other family from out of state called to say good-bye. It was heartbreaking since losing grandpa 7 months earlier and she'd been doing pretty well until that day. She was laughing and joking around just the day before and then she was ready to go. I got a text from my mom and aunt that Thursday afternoon telling me it was time to say good-bye. Don was working from home that day so we got in the car and headed down. We stayed as long as we could and I got hug and kiss her and tell her how much we loved her. It really means a lot to me that I got to be with my grandparents before they passed away. I got the call 15 minutes after we left that she passed. I'm glad Don was driving us home. My grandma was the rock in the family, She always gave great hugs, advice when you asked for it, and her laughter was infectious. She loved playing games, usually won, and she loved us all so much. She also loved traveling with my grandpa all over the US, Mexico and Canada. Later on they took a bunch of long cruises and went to China, Hong Kong, Panama, Antarctic and Australia to name a few and always shared their trips with us through stories and pictures. Grandma's memorial was this past Thursday and everyone had such great memories to share and my aunt even had a recording of my grandma from the week before that she played and it made us all laugh when we heard grandma say "Where the hell are we going?" The service was beautiful and a great way to remember the amazing lady that she was.<br />
October 31, 1931 - March 24, 2016<br />
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I love this picture of grandma and I </div>
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She loved to laugh</div>
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grandma in 1947 - she was 16</div>
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With my grandma - I was a year old </div>
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Always loved the double exposed picture my Aunt took of my grandparents</div>
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Grandma as a child </div>
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<b>Family Time</b></div>
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So my uncle flew up here for the week and I met him at Snoqualmie Falls on Wednesday. We talked, walked around and took pictures before heading back to my house where Don had gotten off work early and was waiting for us. We showed him all the changes we've made to our place and then went to dinner. We talked and played games and had a great time. He had to get up early to go pick up my aunt so we met up again at the memorial. He was heading out to my cousins place for the weekend and we went out for the night on Saturday. So much fun. We hadn't been to my cousins new place since he moved last year so it was great on all fronts. We got to spend time with family and see the island they call home. They picked us up at the ferry terminal on his sailboat and we cruised back to the island. The dogs loved it and it was a gorgeous day to be on the water. We met some of his neighbors at the BBQ that evening and they had 4 of the sweetest girls who hang out with my cousins daughter. We talked about adoption and it was great having someone who understands the process. They adopted their girls and they are so loved. One day it'll be our turn. We hadn't planned on staying the night but we were invited to and we did. I'm glad we did we had a great night hanging out with family having a few drinks, lots of food and lots of stories. I liked what my cousin said when I said I didn't have stuff for us but at least the dogs had everything they needed and he said "That's why you're going to be awesome parents because they come before you." In the morning we were driven to the ferry terminal and said good-bye. It was the first time the dogs had been on a ferry but they loved it. Don will be seeing my uncle again next weekend since he'll be in CA for the weekend to see his parents. He offered to give Don a tour of CBS where he works so that should be a fun day for them.</div>
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All Aboard Selfie</div>
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Happy Happy</div>
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My aunt took this picture of us last week</div>
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The dogs meet my cousins puppy who wore them out </div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-75952908770692243862016-03-29T03:00:00.000-07:002016-03-29T11:13:50.855-07:00Anniversary plans....The Best laid Plans gone awry <div class="MsoNormal">
Our 20<sup>th</sup> Anniversary is coming up in April and we
originally planned on going to New York for 7 days but as they say the best
laid plans….</div>
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We have some friends who were going with us (we chose dates
outside our actual anniversaries) to celebrate their 30<sup>th</sup> together
and thought it would be a great trip with so many friends and family to meet up
with and of course the amazing shows and just being in the city. I LOVE visiting New York and we always try to plan our trips around baseball games. We have friends there
or close by and I was looking forward to seeing them and meeting his new wife
and son. I was looking forward to
Carmine’s, a Yankees game and Broadway shows as well as spring in Central Park.</div>
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Well then the attack
in Brussels happened and our friend’s wife said to cancel their part of the
trip (We’d extended our days to spend time with them in the city). Then a couple days ago I lost my grandma so
we canceled the 7 days in the city to save some of Don’s vacation time and will
be going to Florida for a couple days instead.</div>
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I’m pretty excited actually because I’d originally offered
up Florida as one of our trip options. Don has been to Florida so many times he kind
of dismissed it by offering up other trips and since he was stationed there for
basic training I went with it with my own counter offers (especially since we
just went to Disneyland in January). I
have wanted to go to Universal for the Harry Potter stuff (and last time I went
to universal studios in LA or anywhere I was 12) and we’ve never been to Epcot. I can’t believe it but we made an action
packed theme park vacation for 3 ½ days.
I’ve bought us tickets for Epcot,
Universal park hopper and for Busch gardens in Tampa. Day 4 we fly home in the evening so we plan
on going to the beach that day because let’s face it you can’t go to Florida
without going to the beach and I’m a beach girl. I Love the beach; I pretty much spent my
childhood at the beach and it’s a great exfoliation opportunity for your feet.</div>
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Needless to say we're super excited, especially since Don will
be traveling for work on our actual anniversary. This isn’t something new; we’ve dealt with it
before and really all that matters to us is the acknowledgement of starting our
lives together which was 5 years before we made it official. </div>
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Hopefully soon we'll be worrying about how to change diapers in a theme park or while waiting in line places.</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-34188387225938406462016-03-14T18:04:00.001-07:002016-03-14T18:04:42.309-07:00An Oops that led to a room swap and our weekend<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve been busy working on the craft room and the game
room. We finished what was supposed to
be the game room last year and then packed up all of my crafts, sewing and
collections and moved them into said game room.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago where we started painting the craft room
(now that last year’s construction is over).
We chose to do it in 2 colors so that meant long drying times to ensure
it was dry before spraying the next color.
Well after spraying 2 coats of gray and waiting it became apparent it’d
be so much work to tape off the ceiling and walls so Don decided to roll the
Orange. Much easier and it came out
great!</div>
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Painted walls and new cabinets </div>
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My craft and sewing tables as I attempted to organize</div>
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<br /></div>
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So once it was all dry we started hanging cabinets for
storage. They look great and then we
moved in furniture and I started digging through boxes to begin sorting and
putting things away. That’s when the
problems started. The majority of my
Scrapbooking stuff wouldn’t fit in the cabinets. Then we set up the game table in the game
room and there wasn’t enough space to move around the table with Chairs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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That led to us revisiting Home Depot for shelving to put in
the game room and once that was in we moved all the furniture out of the craft
room and into the game room. Guess whose
room that game room is now. Yep, mine
and I’m still going through boxes but at least the cabinets in that room can
hold all my craft stuff and then we moved the sewing cabinet back in
there. With the smallness of the room
Don will do his painting in the game room and now he even has space to play his
drums since the game table folds down to a smaller table. The added bonus to
that is not just good exercise but it opens up the storage area under the
stairs next to my desk. So I get to use
that space for anything I just want tucked away like my extra sewing machine or
that box of vacation shirts I want to make into a quilt. Don is even thinking
we could build a train layout around the room.
I think it’s a great idea. I’d
love to unpack the trains more than once a year for the Christmas tree.</div>
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my new room cabinets are filling up</div>
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Parker waiting to help me unpack this box</div>
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So while I’m doing all that unpacking Don is going through all our music and reorganizing
it all so it’s easier to find and put on our phones. Yay! No more low volume older music versus
high volume new stuff playing in the car.
It should all be leveled now.
That’s how we spent Saturday and then Saturday night we had tickets for
the theater. It was for the play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassins_(musical)" target="_blank">Assassins</a> . When we were given the
tickets I looked it up and was like huh, weird content for a musical. Well it totally works and it even had us
talking about it all the way home from Seattle.
I even looked up two of them because I wasn’t familiar with their
stories. No time like the present for a
history lesson.</div>
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Sunday was nice and fairly lazy. I unpacked a few boxes and reorganized some
stuff and Don continued to work on the music.
We even played our first game in the game room last night. A game Don was given for Christmas and I wasn’t
sure I’d like it (Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures) given that it’s a starship
combat game but it was fun. I can see us
adding the expansion packs to it over time. </div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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That’s our last few weeks.
Here’s to a great week of unpacking.</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-70268665186765876642016-02-24T19:21:00.000-08:002016-02-26T15:03:00.156-08:00Forever in our hearts and always on our mind<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Baby,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can’t wait for your mom to find us and ask us to be your
parents. We don’t know if you’ll be a
boy or a girl but we are excited to find out! I can’t wait to see your
beautiful face in your first moments and hope we get to be a part of it with your
birth mom. I know, even when you spit up all over my hair and shirt or have
that up the back total blow out just how happy I’ll be to clean you up and how
very grateful I’ll be that your birth mom chose us. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I see so many cute things when I’m out shopping and think
how great it’s going to be to bring it home for you one day. I admit though I
have broken down and have a bunch of things already from jammies and onesies to
burp cloths and bedding. You have so many quilts because your grandma is overjoyed
you will be here someday, hopefully soon. Maybe you’ll have a favorite you just
have to have with you all the time like my brother did. She loves to sew and
also made you car seat covers so you can sleep soundly without the sun in your
eyes (although mom’s car has tinted windows to help with that). In fact when
your grandma found out we were hoping for you, she bought the crib on our wish
list. We haven’t put it up yet but when
you’ve found us we will get the nursery all put together. We also have the cutest red leather toddler
chair for you when you start to grow and want your own personal chair like mom
and dad have. I’ve been collecting books
for you too. I can’t wait to read them
to you every chance we get, but especially at bedtime. I have many more on our wish list for you and
hope you have many favorites among them.</div>
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Speaking of growing up, we are almost finished redoing the
craft room and when you get a bit bigger you will get to have so much fun in
there with us creating whatever you dream up.
You will get to finger paint and color, on paper, not the walls (we
hope!) and play with clay and play-doh. I can’t wait to see your creations.</div>
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Your birth mom will be forever in our hearts and always on our mind.You will always know her greatest sacrifice was out of love for you.</div>
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I hope you find us soon little one because we already love you so much and we can’t wait to meet you both. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Love mom </div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-37945208811575120662016-02-17T18:47:00.002-08:002016-02-17T18:51:20.233-08:00Frequently Visited States<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Our agency posts stats every month and it can be exciting or discouraging. This month was discouraging. We met most of the expectant parent intakes (they are shown by a number so they are anonymous except to the agency) except they chose state restrictions. I know to help make the letters they do get more manageable they are asked for specific things they are looking for in hopeful adoptive parents so the agency can narrow it down for them based on our own profile questionnaires. Now I understand where they are coming from with over 600 waiting families it'd be daunting to get even a third that many profiles to go through. They may also want to be sure they are close enough for face to face visits and we understand that but seeing state restrictions for states we frequently travel to, hurts. So this post is about states we frequent or could frequent because of close ties or we drive through it on our regular trips south.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<b>California:</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Don and I were both born and raised (for the most part since my parents divorced I also lived in NV and WA) in southern California. We routinely travel to visit family and friends there and thus we also drive through Oregon, so an expectant mom in Oregon or California would have frequent visits lining up with our travels and would be just one more bright spot for additional visits home. We always stop to visit friends in Northern California then head south and stop to see them again on our way home.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Now on top of our California connection we also have direct connections to Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<b>Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee:</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Don worked in Atlanta for over 2 years so we grew many friendships and that we'd visit multiple times a year, including Dragon Con weekend. We are guaranteed to be there one to two times a year.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Alabama and Tennessee are less likely now but if we had birth parents from there it'd be a priority. When Don was working out of Georgia we'd drive to see our friends but since he's been mostly home we plan on Dragon Con weekend every year so we spend 4-5 days together on vacation in Atlanta and have a blast catching up. Now one of my best friends lives in Tennessee and we text, Facebook, and face-time regularly. In fact recently we face-timed while Don was driving to our friends place on super Bowl Sunday for about 20 mins. (Don was driving so it was safe). I haven't been to Tennessee since I was 16 but I do look forward to going back to visit and what better excuse than the parents of our child live there and so does my BFF.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<b>Texas:</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
My brother and his family moved to Texas and Don and I lived in Texas for a couple years so we have friends and coworkers we visit there. Don even travels for business to Texas still so traveling there is easy and frequent. Speaking of Texas, we used to drive to surrounding states for the weekend or vacations so that's not out of line for us either. <b><u>We LOVE to travel!</u></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
<span style="color: #444444;">So in short, I understand most parents can't guarantee multiple visits from a far off state but we can and so it's discouraging to see the limitations each month when we'd otherwise be a letter they'd receive; especially when it's places we regularly visit anyway. It of course doesn't mean they'd give us a second look but it's the fact we could be considered and not automatically discarded based on where we live. I know it'll continue because it's the way this process works.</span><br />
<h2>
<b><i> I also know that no matter where our baby's birth parents live we'll be thrilled to come for visits.</i></b></h2>
</div>
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Our Dragon Con meet up</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
with our friends from Atlanta in Italy</div>
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Goofing off in New York</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-22237101302109799362016-02-04T18:12:00.001-08:002016-02-04T18:22:51.883-08:00Giant Silent Void or 28 months and counting<div class="MsoNormal">
I realized recently that I haven’t really talked adoption in
quite awhile in my blog posts except in short blurbs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, honestly there is nothing to report. We’ve had a few contacts that were scams and
were presented with a couple different situations that were way out of our
range but otherwise it’s a GIANT.SILENT.VOID.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m so glad to have the friends I’ve made in the adoption
community though to share the wait and the ups and downs of it all. Today’s
topic seemed to be the Last Minute Hospital List and someone mentioned only 8
more months until they’re eligible for the National list and I said yep, us too,
especially since we aren’t eligible for the agencies local list since we live 2
states away. She responded with I hope
you never see that list and I needed that.
I hope neither of us sees that list but it’s good to know it’s there.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
So with not much going on I’ve taken the time to refresh
this blog with easier to navigate pages and have updated the color scheme. I’ve
also starting making a private adoption website as just another way to spread
the word it’s been 28 months and counting and we are SO ready to be chosen.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The website is nice because I can keep it pretty streamlined
unlike Facebook, Twitter, or many of our other sites where you have to dig
through tons of info. I like that if all
you want to see are pictures I can have nothing but tons of pictures to look at
or if you want bullet points on some of our favorite things it’s there. It’s
definitely a work in progress but if you would like to have a look you can find
it <a href="http://www.dndadoption.org/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
On another note we'll be going to a Super Bowl party at our friend's place and I can't wait. Really hoping for a Denver win but we'll see how it goes, Carolina was a tough team this year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After that it's home where I have to prep for Jury Duty for the next few weeks. Really not looking forward to that at all.</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-70027479318678567032016-01-11T19:38:00.001-08:002016-01-11T19:38:14.684-08:00San Diego - The rains came!<div class="MsoNormal">
Our trip to San Diego came about for a few reasons. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We had tickets to meet our potential match that
fell through so the tickets had to be rescheduled into a personal trip.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We discussed where to go and back to Hawaii was
one of them and San Diego was the other.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">With the rescheduling fees and the cost to go to Hawaii in winter being
so high we Chose San Diego.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> . </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Even though I grew up in Southern California,
San Diego was only visited a couple times as a small child to go to the Zoo and
Sea World.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The only time prior to this
trip I’d gone to San Diego as an adult was to get a hotel with Don and some
friends so we could cross the border and go to Tijuana when I was 18. We only
slept in San Diego so it’s not really a visit I consider as being in San Diego.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> So to those who asked “Why San Diego?” the answer is above all <b>Why Not!?</b> It’s
usually temperate weather and has plenty to see and do for a couple days. Well,
El Nino had other plans this year which put a damper on what we could do but we
still had fun.</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
I
checked the forecast about a week before our trip and noted that it had a 50%
chance of rain. Now California has been
predicted to get rain to pretty much no avail, usually if it does “rain” it’s
more a dew mist and gone or a light rain which is why they’ve been in a severe
drought for years. I checked the
forecast a few days later and it was up to 70% and 90% rain but still no big
deal, right? Wrong! I forgot just how rain happens in Southern California after
living in Western Washington for so long.
When it says Thunderstorms that translates into flash floods and 3” of
rain dumped on you in minutes causing said floods. Even Thunderstorm flooding
in Texas doesn’t happen that quickly, at least in the area where we lived. So now you know it dumped on us for the 4
days we were there and I’ve never had so many flash flood warnings on my phone
as I did there for 4 days.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Day
one:</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b>Arrival</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
This
was our day flying in and we planned to just check into the hotel, find a store
for drinks and snacks for the room and head over to Coronado. This is also the day we got a call from LA on
our 800# that I missed. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
We
find our hotel and joy! It’s under renovation.
I was skeptical but our room was already renovated and was nice and
clean. So I grab my lap top and check on said call, no message. So we left for the Coronado Hotel. It’s the first time I’ve seen an ice skating
rink on the beach. We stayed for the
sunset and headed back to Old Town for dinner at a place Don went to with a
friend back in 2006. They serve traditional
moles and have at least 2000 types of Tequila. They had guava margaritas this
time (Don said they didn’t have margaritas 10 years ago). We both had one of those and I had the
chicken verde (I don’t like moles; too much going on and usually too sweet)
because ground up green chilies is yummy and Don had the tamarind mole with
langostino. I tried his sauce and yep,
too sweet glad I got what I did. So day
one complete and if you’re wondering, yes, it’s raining.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
having an appetizer to tide us over until dinner </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Coronado Hotel</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Sunset on Coronado Beach</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7wdW2t-FscaqtYGcarHEZwPTXqk1C5XlAKEiUNByk6LlS1XBQ6WhopVAsCU7AyphotuLeZeQZMNogkecsG6G4GxitX8K0Q5RuEBF4nxBitwvIiu-tWSdhqIbSPs0ly5QOJmPWwNmWsE/s1600/IMG_5402.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7wdW2t-FscaqtYGcarHEZwPTXqk1C5XlAKEiUNByk6LlS1XBQ6WhopVAsCU7AyphotuLeZeQZMNogkecsG6G4GxitX8K0Q5RuEBF4nxBitwvIiu-tWSdhqIbSPs0ly5QOJmPWwNmWsE/s320/IMG_5402.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The ice skating rink on the beach (behind the barricades)</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Guava Margarita Selfie</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Don's dinner</div>
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My meal</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Day
two:</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b>San Diego Zoo, Stars Wars and more</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
This
is the day I wanted to go to Disneyland.
After some convincing though we chose not to because it was also 100%
rain in Anaheim so we decided on Balboa Park with the museums and zoo. Well it isn’t really raining although the
chance for it increases through the afternoon so we chose the Zoo. Don had never been and I hadn’t been since I
was around 7 years old. We have
umbrellas so we’re set. Yes, the rain
would have the last laugh. The first thing we did was take the bus tour so we
got to see a bunch of animals that wouldn’t be out later as we walked the park.
Ok the rain and wind started so we stopped by a shop to buy hats, I wanted one
to cover my ears so I picked a panda hat and Don just opted for a baseball cap.
As it would have it I really wanted to
see the pandas and they’re in the back of the park and by the time we get back
there it’s raining so hard the animals went back to their rooms and we missed
them. Of course by now I’m soaked head
to toe, we’re at the back lower part of the park and the water is flowing
everywhere especially over my shoes.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Now
at home this wouldn’t be such a big deal, go home change and throw the clothes
in the wash. However, silly me, queen of
taking too many shoes, only brought the one pair on this trip. So soaking wet
we’re off to find another pair of shoes I can wear so we can go to the movies
(Star Wars, finally!) and later dinner. Found
a pair that weren’t 6 shades of neon but they are boots and I don’t have socks
for boots which leads us back to the mall on the morning of day 3 after they
were rubbing my calf raw.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Lesson
learned always take more shoes even if you think you won’t wear them and avoid
this situation altogether.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
We
get back to the hotel and as we enter from the parking garage we noticed lots
of people milling about and someone in the lobby saying we have to move you…..then
as we approached we noticed part of the ceiling had come down. UGH! They explained the water had gotten in and fried the electrical so we had been placed with other hotels in the area
because we can’t stay in a hotel without fire alarms, water damage, and that
they would fix it over night and we could return tomorrow. So we walked up to our room on the top floor,
packed and made a couple trips back down to the garage and were off to the
hotel down the street. Don talked to the
guy at the desk to just switch our reservation to them for the remainder of the
trip and he said he only had that night.
Once we arrived in room, Don got on the phone with the hotel customer
service and our room reservations had changed.
We stayed in that hotel for the remainder of the trip. Thankfully he did
that because they were still working on the other hotel the next day when we
stopped by to verify we’d been checked out.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b>Day
Three:</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b>USS
Midway Museum</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
This
is what Don really wanted to do on this trip.
He loves ships and I’d never been on a carrier. After being in subs and
WWII battleships I must say it’s super roomy. It was nice that the majority of the rain
could be experienced inside but we did go on deck and Don took some video and
the end shows me bundled up, wind whipping my hair in my face and him asking
what I think of carrier life to which I replied “It Sucks!” Seriously feel for
the men and women who serve and deal with the high winds and rain who work on
the flight deck. After the flight deck
we braved to stay outside and wait in line for a tour of the captains’ deck. That was a cool tour given by a navy vet who
actually worked on the ship.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After
the captains’ deck tour I was ready to go relax back at the hotel and warm up
for a bit before dinner. Good thing we
left when we did because I’d get flash flood warnings on my phone 5 mins into
the drive back to Old Town. Sure enough
about 5 minutes back in our room and the street outside started to flood. That
changed our dinner plans, especially after watching the news and seeing just
how high the water was in some areas of the city. So goody we got to go back to
El Agave which was across the street from the new hotel. I wasn’t really hungry because we had a late lunch on the ship so I
had a margarita while Don ate and then ordered quesadillas to go. Not sure what I ate later that night but it
really wasn’t good, I should’ve just ordered the verde again. Now what they
serve as quesadilla was 4 small tortillas one had mashed potato, another was a funky
mole mushroom, and one had green chili which was good and chicken
vegetable. They didn’t have cheese as
listed on the menu, which to me is what makes a quesadilla. Even Don said his
dinner was just ok that night so if you visit go for the 2000 tequila varieties
and the Moles.</div>
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<b>Day
four:</b></div>
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<b>Disneyland
60<sup>th</sup> Anniversary</b></div>
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It’s
about a 90 minute drive from San Diego to Anaheim and Thursday proved to be the
best day to go. I’d prepaid for our
parking pass and tickets so if it was raining we could just use them another time
before the end of the year. Luckily it
was dry in Anaheim and on the way we stopped for In n Out burger at probably
the largest location I’ve ever seen. The
last time I was at Disneyland I was 18. We’ve been to Disney world just haven’t
been back to the one in California in forever and good grief it’s the same and
yet so different. They are taking out a big chunk of the park and making into
the Stars Wars theme so it was a big deal for me to get to see the park as I
remembered it. They have changed so much
over the years but it’s mostly untouched as far as layout and what rides they
have. Space Mountain is still there but
they changed the name and removed the Black Hole stuff and made it Star Wars
but the ride remains super fun. I made a point of doing a few of the story land
rides (kid rides) and Peter Pan is still the best. The best part for me was
that the holiday decorations were in place.
I’ve wanted to go to Disneyland or Disney World during the holidays for
a long time. Not just to see the decorations
but because the Haunted Mansion ride gets turned into the Nightmare Before
Christmas. I was not disappointed and
really wished I could’ve taken more pictures.
I also wish I could’ve taken pictures on the Jungle Cruise because that
was decorated really well but it was dark when we took it, the downside to
Disney in winter is how early the sunsets. At one point we stopped to have an
afternoon snack and sat down in the town square just across from Sleeping
Beauty’s castle. There was a duck that
stopped by to grab up a crumb that dropped, so I pulled a small piece off and
she stepped right between my feet, doe eyes up, neck stretched and took it from
my hand and came back again. I really
wish I could have gotten a picture of her doing that she was so dang cute.
Someone else tried to feed her and her mate but they ran away. When I was done I walked over and handed her
a parting piece and tossed one to him as he was a bit more wary. I took a photo
of her as I was leaving. When we crossed
the square we noticed someone else feeding a mallard some of their corn as well
as I had done with the female in our area.</div>
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Couldn't resist wearing this shirt to Disney now that they own Star Wars</div>
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My Duck friend </div>
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Haunted Mansion</div>
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Town Square tree</div>
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We
had a drive ahead of us so we left before the parade and as soon as we crossed
the San Diego county line it began to pour.
It was just so weird to vacation in Southern California and have it
actually rain the whole time, we only got a reprieve by going to Disney but it
was still a bit windy and chilly.</div>
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Friday
we flew home. It was a quick but fairly
eventful trip. We tried to make the most
of the crappy weather and I think we did pretty well by seeing as and goodness knows
California absolutely needs the rain.</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-32098539698319218052016-01-01T19:30:00.000-08:002016-01-01T19:30:17.598-08:00December 2015 - Where I've been<div class="MsoNormal">
Good-bye 2015 and Hello to a New Year!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I haven’t written in a month and I needed that time off to
focus on us and getting the house back in order after the construction
completed. Seems like it’s all I’ve
talked about recently but we really accomplished a lot of small and not so
small jobs around the house this last year.
It feels great to finally get some of these things done.</div>
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Our first project was redoing the basement bathroom</div>
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Then we moved on to flooring</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
We also repainted and added cabinets to this room</div>
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We hired a contractor to redo this half of the basement and stairwell</div>
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Finished and furnished - new living room</div>
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So December was full of fun.
We returned from California late on Sunday after Thanksgiving and Don
had to get on a plane the next morning for Houston. I took the time to dig out the decorations so
I was ready when Don got home that weekend to go pick out our tree. I am like a kid in the candy shop on a
shopping spree giddy about getting the tree.
If we do nothing else I just want a Christmas tree and the ability to
decorate it and the house while listening to Christmas music. Don is less interested because live trees are
heavy but he does it for me every year (and I tell him every year he must
really love me!). I do look every year
for a fake tree that I like without being a pre-lit tree but to no avail. While I’d still probably get a small live
tree, I have to admit having a fake one in the garage would be great. </div>
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This is now our dining room all decorated for Christmas</div>
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Ok, so the tree is home and set up, we have 12 days until
Christmas. Then we planned a gaming
party for the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. As I’ve mentioned before Construction leaves
a huge amount of dust and it just keeps coming even after cleaning up so I
asked Don to help clean the kitchen walls, ceiling etc. He went up to the kitchen and said you know
if we’re clearing out the kitchen to deep clean, we may as well repaint and
replace the temporary cabinet we put in 12 years ago. Now if he is up to paint, I’m all for it so I
jumped at it. He made his way to the big
box store on Tuesday while I began clearing everything from the kitchen. He
picked out the paint which is something I normally do and he chose well. It’s a sort of cranberry color which goes
well with the other accessories in the kitchen and our floor is grey so we
painted the ceiling grey instead of white.
It sounds quick and easy on paper but it’s a kitchen. The walls were cleaned twice, as well as
sanded down and wiped down again and they were still resisting the paint. We
should have had it done in a couple days but I finally finished putting the
kitchen back together on Sunday night at 10pm. Our guests were due to arrive
around noon the following day. Whew! At least
it got done.</div>
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new cabinets and kitchen color</div>
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The game day holiday party we hosted was a lot of fun. We played every expansion of Talisman (hence
the 2 days and we still didn’t finish it before people had to head home). Our
friends from up north just stayed over and a good thing too since it snowed all
afternoon and evening. We were supposed to have a white Christmas this year but
it happened a few days early. Our yard
is great to sled in when it snows but we didn’t get enough on the ground.</div>
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Talisman game</div>
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snowing </div>
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Christmas day was great! My mom was able to come which is
something I’d worried she wouldn’t be able to do. She was released from the Hospital the 2<sup>nd</sup>
week of December but I was worried about her not being able to sit for very
long. They did leave shortly after
dessert though since they’d stopped and saw my grandma for a few hours before
coming up here. I’m just glad she is on the mend and getting better every day. </div>
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my mom showing me the blouse I got her as one of her Christmas presents</div>
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our nephew showing off his new shoes</div>
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So that’s pretty much the December review. Not much else happened after Christmas except making homemade Donuts the day after Christmas. Our nephew ( the one pictured above) had surgery today to remove a tumor from his foot and luckily it was benign, yesterday they thought it was cancer after looking at his MRI. So ya seriously over 2015! We
stayed in for New Years Eve this year which was great. </div>
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Happy New Year!</div>
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I’m seriously glad 2015 is over. It was a rough year but it’s made my resolve
all that more strong. </div>
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We have a trip
coming up in a few days and I can’t wait to get someplace warmer for a few
days. </div>
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Here's hoping for a great year for all of us in 2016.</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-29430553124759271242015-12-02T00:42:00.000-08:002015-12-02T01:08:02.912-08:00Thanksgiving trip 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
Every year we go home to visit for Thanksgiving. It can seem complicated but we’ve gotten used
it. We drive down and stop at our friend’s
place in the Sacramento area and stay the night then the following day with his
family and in-laws (although not this year, we'd stay on our way home). We always enjoy that
and the dogs love playing with his son and running around the back yard. We
then leave (usually) on Sunday morning and head to our hotel where we unload
the car and then head over to his parent’s house. We usually eat dinner and hang out for a
couple hours then head back to our hotel for the night.<br />
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Monday usually has us spending the entire day with his
parents. We go over for breakfast and
talk, hang out, eat dinner and watch a movie or two. Tuesday and Wednesday are usually my family
days. Each year is a bit different based
on when my aunt isn’t in school. This
year though, I went to spend a few hours with my dad on Monday while Don took
his parents to the mall so his mom could get a new cell phone. My dad had a
stroke in October and I needed to see how he was doing. I’ve been extremely
worried about him since I found out but he didn’t want me to come down to help
out. I’m so glad to say he is coming
along although nowhere near 80%+ but improving daily. He can sign his name and
has a leg brace to help him walk and stay upright so I’m happy to see him
improving and pretty quickly. Monday is also the day I found out my mom entered
Kidney failure due to the massively strong antibiotics they’ve had her on for
MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph infection) after her back surgery back in
October. I guess you could say October
was a bad month for me. Mom is going on
two weeks in the hospital but will hopefully be home (although still on an IV
with antibiotics) by this weekend. When
we spoke today she’d had dialysis and was in pretty good spirits, as good as
you can be; that is when the whole right side of your body is bruised and sore from
head to toe on one side and you’re still recovering from a fusion of your
spinal cord. </div>
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So Tuesday had us going to his parents for breakfast and
then meeting my dad and aunt for dinner.
We went to Outback and enjoyed dinner and the company. Our visits with them are always so
short. I wish they were available all
day but between work and school it isn’t possible. We got to spend about 4 ½ hours hanging out
together. I did talk to them every day
we were there though.</div>
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Wednesday was breakfast at his parents then we went to see
my mom’s brother. This year we went out
to Mexican instead of doing a BBQ which was really good. We went back to his place after dinner for
lots of pinball and music and Don and he had a cigar. The only time Don has
anything like that is the one time a year we go visit my uncle, it’s their
tradition in the back yard or open garage. We met a neighbor of his and stayed
way longer than we normally do but we were having a great time talking and competing
for high score of the night. </div>
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Don playing my Uncle's Southpark pinball game </div>
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Thursday we were going to try and have breakfast with my dad
and aunt but it didn’t work out and instead got a phone call for us to come to
Don’s parents. So we ended up at their place 4 hours early so Don set up their
new printer and showed his mom how to do things with her new phone. Later his uncle and his long time girlfriend
arrived. We would go to a restaurant
late that afternoon for dinner. I have
to say it was a lot of food, good eats, and a great price per person for the
quality. His uncle and girlfriend left for the couple hour drive home from the
restaurant and we went back to his parent’s house for a couple hours. We called it fairly early that night so we could all get a good amount of rest.</div>
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Come Friday morning we were headed to meet up with a CA
co-worker of Don’s for lunch in Irvine and a tour of Blizzard Entertainment. Come to find out her husband works there and when
he offered the tour we jumped at the chance.
We were able to find a Petsmart hotel close by to the restaurant and we
made an appointment for the dogs to go to daycare while we went to lunch and
did the campus tour.</div>
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I have to say I wasn’t 100% sure what we’d see outside the Orc
statue out front with the flags and a bunch of buildings where people work. We were pleasantly surprised all the statues
were in place and well lit so we could take pictures. We got to see the library
and holy cow so amazing! So many games, books, and other cool things to check
out if you work there. I’d spend a lot of time in there playing games in the
evenings if I worked there. We also saw an office from outside as we entered a
building and we thought it was the store.
Nope, someone’s office with so many cool things we just wanted it to be
a store (they don’t have a physical store only online). The control room was
cool to see but no pictures allowed then we moved on to the timeline of
Blizzard and the games they released. It
needs to be updated for the last couple years but still nifty to see all of
them in one chart. The museum was cool to see, they have original art work,
statues, the armor they give to long time employees, a display case of items
given out each Christmas to employees and also fan art. We then got a tour of
where he works. Really cool IT dept.
which is saying something. After the
tour we talked a bit then headed back to pick up the dogs from daycare.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Welcome to Blizzard</div>
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One the core values placed around the statue</div>
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one section of the library</div>
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Only 6 hours and 14 freeways later we’d arrive back at our
friend’s place for the night. We got in
fairly late but were staying the next day.
Saturday was pretty chill (and chilly!); we played World of Warcraft,
watched a movie, and then played Talisman.
His son was able to have us help with addons he wanted for WoW and we
had a lot of fun together playing games.
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Sunday was a 5am wake up so we could get ready, pack the car
and leave for home. It would be an extremely long and cold day. I don’t think
the temp from CA to WA ever got above 36 degrees. In fact it was 28 degrees when we left
Sacramento and 25 degrees when we got home to our place in WA. What was supposed
to be an 11 ½ hour drive turned into 14 ½ one and we concluded we’re never
leaving on Sunday again. Thank goodness
we made it to Oregon in time to listen to the football game on the radio to
break up the monotony of the drive. Although the commentator’s were blah and we
couldn’t really hear what was going on half the time (goodness guys take a
breath you don’t have to keep talking over every play about whatever) it was a
good game to listen to.</div>
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All of us were so glad to finally be back home, even if it
was much later than we expected. The
cats were thrilled to see us and we them. Our brother in law took great care of
them and the house while we were gone. Hopefully
next year we have a child to show off to the family during our trip down.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s some pictures of our Blizzard tour and trip down
south for Thanksgiving:</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Pets are allowed at work so this section of grass has been set aside for human use</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
My happy boys!Dad turned on the compressor so we went to the car for a few minutes</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2PcorRu35Rohza9Z6o_c5XgwDdTAlSZjhk_T5sCH8_IMlCfNOQDPrKMpsBlA_pczIUqwsl505B0y1_DIOQ8r_7m8_6PIRl2jeRLpwLFJWRhRQpzdYAD_vJ3Hp1gmcX1FjVP9BPHGQF4/s1600/IMG_5124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2PcorRu35Rohza9Z6o_c5XgwDdTAlSZjhk_T5sCH8_IMlCfNOQDPrKMpsBlA_pczIUqwsl505B0y1_DIOQ8r_7m8_6PIRl2jeRLpwLFJWRhRQpzdYAD_vJ3Hp1gmcX1FjVP9BPHGQF4/s320/IMG_5124.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The internal safety poster mascot is Medimurk the Murloc</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Q0OtwbqCECGQ95-ZgelpVOGOppIFpI9JMpp-7RxYXApuAY1MoZCl9XJu-E9NdivbItkHmY0uj4YIS9Ck5BwWbEFxwfywgfFW1GsIP0QLYUWaYrYD5UW1d2R0vyf0Js3dYsih-Fv_zlk/s1600/IMG_5134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Q0OtwbqCECGQ95-ZgelpVOGOppIFpI9JMpp-7RxYXApuAY1MoZCl9XJu-E9NdivbItkHmY0uj4YIS9Ck5BwWbEFxwfywgfFW1GsIP0QLYUWaYrYD5UW1d2R0vyf0Js3dYsih-Fv_zlk/s320/IMG_5134.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Couldn't resist taking a picture of this Diablo sign</div>
<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPVp4pDrnDeEF0LJlTiFd2gzY84pOrGvBIUYHrk6HzfRElYSJRcVYLey11VRqp-wA21VVtUYVHTOg8x6CuAPXBs_S7VZ2pFr6LZtBquZXe0pypQXFypQVwKSOfsx9hfCqq45C_Mh4CNI/s1600/IMG_5141+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPVp4pDrnDeEF0LJlTiFd2gzY84pOrGvBIUYHrk6HzfRElYSJRcVYLey11VRqp-wA21VVtUYVHTOg8x6CuAPXBs_S7VZ2pFr6LZtBquZXe0pypQXFypQVwKSOfsx9hfCqq45C_Mh4CNI/s320/IMG_5141+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tyrael</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKgEse0Z7ODKFzjBPQrizNF7Wg9rasmP5D3_OgCPsJoobjI9SQjSgfRYH2g6Kq8u87vrG37xUH1KrQHgt_w7Rx_E7QOHT-eemRDP6DXdAy7L17mFhUhRxLlz7ntlO7x9t4dXxUnDy5Fc/s1600/IMG_5143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKgEse0Z7ODKFzjBPQrizNF7Wg9rasmP5D3_OgCPsJoobjI9SQjSgfRYH2g6Kq8u87vrG37xUH1KrQHgt_w7Rx_E7QOHT-eemRDP6DXdAy7L17mFhUhRxLlz7ntlO7x9t4dXxUnDy5Fc/s320/IMG_5143.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tracer</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPQNz20Bq5YkDsgiHOzpbYZBYOjJAXP4ckhD1CBAHcm-rs5ylGtjss0uuv8QYn0J1XUvX2e65mXef7Jjs5y90QyepbqcLElg3sFrWyIokO_D3neIPx1rML8kGkPQgSKlD328WVaq44oU/s1600/IMG_5144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPQNz20Bq5YkDsgiHOzpbYZBYOjJAXP4ckhD1CBAHcm-rs5ylGtjss0uuv8QYn0J1XUvX2e65mXef7Jjs5y90QyepbqcLElg3sFrWyIokO_D3neIPx1rML8kGkPQgSKlD328WVaq44oU/s320/IMG_5144.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The one and only Horde Chopper</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aWkf98VycKnRnzPay1riSzrGIu3Ujap1qW_rgxuOXWq9WdWAd9D52T4eSdo3ZICZsqYYiCKIpFngABL28CoK_JQmwgMKDzmos0qwRLsx5xpHK5LouMUeWE0OeXKak-dqGHd-y-JzcSU/s1600/IMG_5157+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aWkf98VycKnRnzPay1riSzrGIu3Ujap1qW_rgxuOXWq9WdWAd9D52T4eSdo3ZICZsqYYiCKIpFngABL28CoK_JQmwgMKDzmos0qwRLsx5xpHK5LouMUeWE0OeXKak-dqGHd-y-JzcSU/s320/IMG_5157+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don with Grommash</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEupH_zpKulP8xUIFdZk6I_uPA_as9cVW5nqH-dsJny4vkLlMXVjpPiqMbiDtavkfqM2Gv6qQs3KLP0fwCQu1_ZPDSjRCwp72UmqKslvQI7CV6kHOTYEw5p7Nw645-qRwW_KnrkZ2VHI/s1600/IMG_5162+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEupH_zpKulP8xUIFdZk6I_uPA_as9cVW5nqH-dsJny4vkLlMXVjpPiqMbiDtavkfqM2Gv6qQs3KLP0fwCQu1_ZPDSjRCwp72UmqKslvQI7CV6kHOTYEw5p7Nw645-qRwW_KnrkZ2VHI/s320/IMG_5162+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sword is 5 years with Blizzard and Shield is 10 years (Arthas mask is 20 years)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Sl4pBp9oAa2BktqYF4Yn_u1GAmDg4Y-py19YSHHwP3o-wkopnLsGvU-VLim5eebEPNKjyU8t7F-e2lkUdeDLNAjxekufUuO4fn3v96ZlmfQyW2-Cz_TydASNkKvR88q7rpQby6r22VQ/s1600/IMG_5164+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Sl4pBp9oAa2BktqYF4Yn_u1GAmDg4Y-py19YSHHwP3o-wkopnLsGvU-VLim5eebEPNKjyU8t7F-e2lkUdeDLNAjxekufUuO4fn3v96ZlmfQyW2-Cz_TydASNkKvR88q7rpQby6r22VQ/s320/IMG_5164+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
one piece of the fan art in the museum</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pOZwZDjd1C3UCk8S2WYgW2ma_7aQ3BVFBVx1H9i-kzoew6haHVSIKmusZQ4kMJK49cgXmmAnSDVj6lYZsgM8osZ6dqJNmkkMvupiZdqO7T7KAoFBEY4Ufti9a0lZrRfoigAUnx1-ZwE/s1600/IMG_5180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pOZwZDjd1C3UCk8S2WYgW2ma_7aQ3BVFBVx1H9i-kzoew6haHVSIKmusZQ4kMJK49cgXmmAnSDVj6lYZsgM8osZ6dqJNmkkMvupiZdqO7T7KAoFBEY4Ufti9a0lZrRfoigAUnx1-ZwE/s320/IMG_5180.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My guys all snoozing after a long day</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-50290229003441336142015-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:002015-11-05T18:22:19.865-08:00Waiting to Adopt = Pixar's Inside Out<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="ecxs1"></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: .SFUIText-Regular, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;">How Inside Out </span><span style="font-size: 22.6667px;">resonated with</span><span style="font-size: 17pt;"> our journey to open adopt.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">You start out
joyous and hopeful then the longer you wait it slowly transforms into anger
(scams), sadness (why not us/failed matches), disgust (scams) and even fear
(will we ever get picked? Will it fail at the hospital?). You do everything you
know to tread the emotions with dignity and humility but scam after scam
dwindles your ability for compassion and you struggle to retain your humanity
and personality without bitterness and paranoia.</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> It’s a daily struggle to remain positive and busy.</span></span><span style="font-family: '.SF UI Text', serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0in 0in 16.2pt;">
<span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">When everything seems bleak, sad, and hopeless we get a glimmer of
hope only to have those hopes dashed. How do you continue?</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> </span></span><span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">Like Inside Out it’s about feeling all that, sometimes at the same
time, and still working through all those emotions to make decisions for
ourselves that affect our futures.</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: '.SF UI Text', serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0in 0in 16.2pt;">
<span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">Joy can't exist without sadness, doubt, fear or anger because if
we didn't have the negative feelings we wouldn't understand the joy, happy,
elated or content feelings we feel day to day. We wouldn't strive to better
ourselves or our situations without the pain of those emotions. They make up
the lessons learned in life and more important who we are as individuals.</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: '.SF UI Text', serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0in 0in 16.2pt;">
<span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">I'm a rather blunt person, not in a negative way just matter of
fact</span></span><span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">.</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> If
someone asks why we’re adopting I’ll be frank about it same as if they asked
the time of day or what kind of dog I have.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> </span></span><span class="ecxs1"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">I am also a sensitive
person who wants the best for everyone I meet but I'm also not delusional in
that not everyone is out to better themselves but rather to feed emotionally on
those waiting or to try to gain financially from adopting couples.</span></span><span class="ecxapple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"> That’s not how Adoption is supposed to work and over time it
makes us leery with all contacts especially via email, private message or text. </span></span><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">I jump every time the phone rings or dings that I’ve gotten an email or text
even though 99% of the time it’s people looking to scam adoptive couples. Thank
goodness for Report as Spam buttons. </span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0in 0in 16.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">We want to be excited and hopeful that
this is the one meant for us. I strive to make my compassion shine through in
written forms of communication but it just depends on how it’s interpreted by
the reader. </span></div>
<div class="ecxp1" style="background: white; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0in 0in 16.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;">Adoption at the end of the day is just like Sadness and Joy going through
the maze and trying to get back to head quarters. It was that journey where
they really learned what each had to offer and how important they both were to
the well being of Riley. That’s how open adoption should work and we hope will
work for us.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEHo49ZdViKKEVXebVrVOn-q0MxnuF_AlHbGFOm8NKm4gKoGh62UW99rkA2KiFzQMY0yX-pdHP2JFpMjoYVReRbHz6h7CuSszxK2DmcPMfvIrIezKcZRoEtATuUnO_2MqP-xvr-Dx3v8/s1600/Pixar+Post+-+Inside+Out+Anger+Airplane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEHo49ZdViKKEVXebVrVOn-q0MxnuF_AlHbGFOm8NKm4gKoGh62UW99rkA2KiFzQMY0yX-pdHP2JFpMjoYVReRbHz6h7CuSszxK2DmcPMfvIrIezKcZRoEtATuUnO_2MqP-xvr-Dx3v8/s320/Pixar+Post+-+Inside+Out+Anger+Airplane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Regular', serif; font-size: 17pt;"><br /></span></div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-71167173729056808712015-10-27T16:01:00.004-07:002015-10-27T16:01:24.523-07:00The Kindness of Strangers and More.<div class="MsoNormal">
My last post was a pretty emotional one but what happened
the next morning would have me in tears, literally. I promise this is a happy
post of what’s happened the last two weeks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Our basement remodel is pretty much done with just a few
minor things left to do.</li>
<li>Don is in Ghana building a kindergarten playground for the
new school the charity recently built.</li>
<li>We bought new furniture, Goodbye hand me downs.</li>
<li>Two years waiting but still happy and hopeful</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you follow us on Facebook you may have seen my brief post
about it but here is the full context. Don and I have remodeled a large part of
our finished basement and are moving our living room down there, so we bought
all new furniture. When we went to the
local furniture shop they had a sand sculpture in the parking lot so I took a
picture and posted it to our Facebook page.
The shop saw it and decided to add a gift to our furniture delivery. Our
delivery was a week out from when we purchased it so that the basement could be
mostly finished. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ciJC16caknx67G9U1zfeu3Cfh7rVcy1UqbUrbgjfe4rs8xyfHixCeHHI3H5ToLUl8Q6VqRS9V5WavEpHk0kQUbCBmxPogpfbaY-LJ4wVEdJjGtdyAx4MMdQ832oDaH20082WDlXQNq0/s1600/IMG_4787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ciJC16caknx67G9U1zfeu3Cfh7rVcy1UqbUrbgjfe4rs8xyfHixCeHHI3H5ToLUl8Q6VqRS9V5WavEpHk0kQUbCBmxPogpfbaY-LJ4wVEdJjGtdyAx4MMdQ832oDaH20082WDlXQNq0/s320/IMG_4787.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Delivery day came and as they were unloading the furniture
from the truck, one of the guys brought a big red gift wrapped box over to me
and set it down on the porch. I was stunned! I really was because it was a big
box and then I read the card attached and immediately started tearing up. Not only had they sent us a gift for our
future child but I got it just when I needed it most. I Love the little red chair! I really can’t
wait for the day when it’s being used (and not by our four-legged kids). For now it’s still in the box but hopefully
soon we can put it in the living room or nursery. After the shock wore off I
took pictures and sent them to Don, who was out of town for the weekend. He was able to see it and was just as
thrilled with it as I was. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6B7WY35YlNszkS5nfi6Kmy9Mrf8s9KlOIVAZ9-zSmrWOnjDUEN5WZ5wLILJKvf8k7wxCI_F8Jhm_jskNt5vZ3aBXHeH_R6RmiLhA3LlnxJsvZrlsEYcxkroi1KAJdLo2fNEI2MTo6Ek/s1600/adoptionPicMonkey+Collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6B7WY35YlNszkS5nfi6Kmy9Mrf8s9KlOIVAZ9-zSmrWOnjDUEN5WZ5wLILJKvf8k7wxCI_F8Jhm_jskNt5vZ3aBXHeH_R6RmiLhA3LlnxJsvZrlsEYcxkroi1KAJdLo2fNEI2MTo6Ek/s320/adoptionPicMonkey+Collage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here's what they said on our Facebook page when I posted our extreme appreciation:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.08px;"><a class=" UFICommentActorName" data-ft="{"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=106292965569&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D" data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/OldCanneryFurniture" saprocessedanchor="true" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0">The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse</span></a></span><span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.08px;"><span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.0"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010">Glad you received it! We've been anxiously anticipating your delivery since last weekend! We will be thinking about you!"</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.08px;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".1e9.1:5.1:$comment587772628027275_587776438026894/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.2.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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We are still waiting for a few finishing touches to the
basement but for the most part it’s done and set up. I love it and can’t wait for Don to get home
from Ghana so we can move the audio equipment and satellite receiver down there
and hook it all up. We also had cabinets built in down there so I can finally
move some things we don’t use often out of the kitchen beginning tomorrow after
the contractor finishes up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkIozpYcj1EgtbLaCS0eys07nY7-7zu0Klu_PbuxEBP0XeXH_KwnlwcG_Sn5Cy3l9xooaEuNBUp4QiKAxhPK4VbNHXCCH9FUgU7CEx-cWCVGgCvjuPPuhLxEM4RyKnGxpPBWrg_xxOZM/s1600/IMG_4877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkIozpYcj1EgtbLaCS0eys07nY7-7zu0Klu_PbuxEBP0XeXH_KwnlwcG_Sn5Cy3l9xooaEuNBUp4QiKAxhPK4VbNHXCCH9FUgU7CEx-cWCVGgCvjuPPuhLxEM4RyKnGxpPBWrg_xxOZM/s320/IMG_4877.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOsknpdKUDtZjcyAaWLuY7JrP-is2ZN6szEK03XCuhXJqDgJCnon6qjoOVPI1MsiL9HctersQbcreYDbFejVRXyWp4_pmXaY_SmD1bG0ujU45cBdOGun3cN61c4IuEmyzMifPsg4oYtE/s1600/IMG_4880.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOsknpdKUDtZjcyAaWLuY7JrP-is2ZN6szEK03XCuhXJqDgJCnon6qjoOVPI1MsiL9HctersQbcreYDbFejVRXyWp4_pmXaY_SmD1bG0ujU45cBdOGun3cN61c4IuEmyzMifPsg4oYtE/s320/IMG_4880.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Tomorrow also marks our two years "live" and three years since we started the process to adopt. It's also National Chocolate day. Last year I went for a hot fudge sundae and if it sounds good tomorrow I may celebrate with another one or maybe just eat a fun size Butterfinger. </div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-23874389075051033412015-10-16T19:32:00.000-07:002015-10-16T19:57:43.196-07:00When life gives you lemons make lemonade<div class="MsoNormal">
Sure we’ve all heard the phrase and when I think of it I
think why not use the lemons to make pies and cake or lemon bars. How about
take the seeds and plant them for a tree to grow and continue to provide you
with lemons. It’s what reminds me of family and some great childhood memories
of growing up surrounded by lemon and orange trees (you think roses are thorny
try these trees) in southern California.</div>
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Well backing up a bit to August when I lost my grandfather. We
knew it would happen just not when and luckily I was there for his final day
for many hours. I was lucky to have that
time with him and others in my family to say goodbye to an incredible man who
had 92 years on this planet. He survived
WWII, Meningitis, four kids, 7 grand-kids and 20 great grand-kids. He was strict but super loving with a great
sense of humor and love of nature. His
love of travel is where I got my love of travel. We take separate trips and then sit down
together and share our stories and pictures.
He and my grandma took many, many trips across Canada, Mexico and every
state in the US. So there are tons of
pictures. When he was too old to drive
they took cruises and I got to see the Outback, Hong Kong, the Panama Canal and
Antarctica through his pictures. I miss him every day. I miss his stories and
his smiles and his love of sweets (he loved Lemon meringue pie). I was so
hoping our child would get to meet him and he always asked me when he’d get to
meet his 21st great grandchild (grandpa had Alzheimer’s). I can only hope when
we do get selected to be parents that we can convey what a great man he was through
our stories and pictures along with grandma telling them too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_tPkbKOiZjPRZUijfnsUYyILf8Aq_MG2GwBj62JE0JvETce5cFKZea0vaSiuxR_kMDHrkj3nnPntzQS6KRZyHpo8o_vpPlXSm2B-L_l4PVcVxwFuxQ3smmVkQPItlbHbNfwma4GErxY/s1600/DSCF2405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_tPkbKOiZjPRZUijfnsUYyILf8Aq_MG2GwBj62JE0JvETce5cFKZea0vaSiuxR_kMDHrkj3nnPntzQS6KRZyHpo8o_vpPlXSm2B-L_l4PVcVxwFuxQ3smmVkQPItlbHbNfwma4GErxY/s320/DSCF2405.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Grandpa last Halloween with his homemade spider chocolate and pretzels</div>
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The reason I’m posting on this now is it has become very
clear just how fragile life is. My mom had a major surgery on her hip, back and
nerves a week ago. She is having some
complications and is in a great deal of pain.
I wish I could take that pain away.
It’s so hard to hear about and see but then to get a call at 11:45 at
night from your aunt telling you that your dad has had a stroke and is in the
hospital with severe weakness on his right side. We're 1100 miles away you
can’t just rush to the hospital to be with him. I still might drive down to
help him. He lives alone and owns his
own shop. If he doesn’t regain some
strength and use of his right side soon the dogs and I will go down to
California and help him continue to get the cars and trucks fixed so he can pay
his bills. As my dad said to me “You don’t realize all your body does without
thinking about it until you no longer can, especially when it’s your dominate
side.” It was a reminder of working in
the hospital and seeing all walks of life and ages of stroke victims. It’s a
crushing blow, even mild strokes. You literally have to start over relearning motor
skills and some need speech therapy. I’m extremely thankful it wasn’t worse and
he can still talk and is alive but it’s a not so gentle reminder that anything
can happen at any time, even adoption. </div>
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Next week I start driving down to help my mom because her
husband has to go back to work but she knows I may have to go to my dad and
that’s a tough choice to make. My
parents are both hard working, tough and stubborn so I can only hope that
strength and determination helps them to recover quickly. If dad makes a comeback
in his strength I will at least see him next month when we go down for
Thanksgiving, otherwise I’ll go down and stay until Thanksgiving and Don will
fly down and meet us. </div>
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The lesson relearned is never taking life for granted. Reach
out to those who you love (family, friends, birth parents) and tell them what
they mean to you for tomorrow may be too late.
Call often so you can hear their voice and they yours. In this age of technology we to often just
email, text or post on Facebook without thinking of actually calling and
connecting on a human level. This is one reason we want an open adoption so we
can keep our families connected for our child. They can grow up knowing how
much they are loved by everyone. </div>
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I’m forever grateful to those around me now and even those
who are no longer here except in my heart and memories. I’m thankful for an
amazing husband who is so supportive and to my pets that I get to love and spoil.
Most of all I’m grateful for my parents and how they raised me. I, too, am strong, stubborn and determined
and it’s from them (and DNA) that I learned to stay the course and do what
needs to be done.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCvEQcdM4Li1IJ8f5mjhFASgPKUatcJFtHa2UrsjgQl6kigaFCf1digLFsvKd5IHCgeb-1u_0kDW_3SkUtD_FgdQGizthNATlYR4K6AyvzR1ByAEdw0a5n3F7_QuFUqQmHj6_vRWeLc0/s1600/9583b67d7430f68b1cd458da8fbe3237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCvEQcdM4Li1IJ8f5mjhFASgPKUatcJFtHa2UrsjgQl6kigaFCf1digLFsvKd5IHCgeb-1u_0kDW_3SkUtD_FgdQGizthNATlYR4K6AyvzR1ByAEdw0a5n3F7_QuFUqQmHj6_vRWeLc0/s320/9583b67d7430f68b1cd458da8fbe3237.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Time to make some lemonade!</div>
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Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145170287047268324.post-50107450019652789712015-10-01T19:31:00.000-07:002015-10-01T19:31:19.489-07:00Pumpkins, Halloween, Charity and Waiting to Adopt<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s October and that means a whole bunch of different things
to me. It means everywhere I go is all
pumpkins, hay stacks and apples. Its young kids talking about the perfect
costumes while shopping with their parents. It also means isles full of bagged Halloween
candy, costumes, and trick or treat buckets shaped like Hello Kitty, ghosts, or
Batman. Its texts with pictures of my best friend dressed as the wicked witch
in some form at someone’s Halloween party (we don’t live in the same state). </div>
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It used to mean trips
to the pumpkin patch but without kids to enjoy the hayrides with or watch the
immense joy at picking out their perfect pumpkin and watching them feed the
animals in the petting zoo; it’s too expensive to go since they charge $15 a
person to even walk into the patch now so I buy our pumpkins in the store or farmer's market.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxiaDgPjAdlM31saGfpKanehEswKmcq7sJocxyiZPPWwqFes22z5NO0t11HNHG_oYzWJjqy4HTe6wNrmSWMT0LjIA6fqySH9QPflCLsmRunZZYrjfzz4WV8C2ss_AgZ1ZImlk3hKtjc0/s1600/at+the+pumpkin+patch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxiaDgPjAdlM31saGfpKanehEswKmcq7sJocxyiZPPWwqFes22z5NO0t11HNHG_oYzWJjqy4HTe6wNrmSWMT0LjIA6fqySH9QPflCLsmRunZZYrjfzz4WV8C2ss_AgZ1ZImlk3hKtjc0/s320/at+the+pumpkin+patch.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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It’s the time when everything pumpkin spice is released, which
frankly is out of control. . I admit I love to make pumpkin bread from scratch
as well as apple butter and a nice curry pumpkin soup. I love pumpkin spice lattes and most things pumpkin
but I certainly don’t want or need pumpkin spice Oreos or M&M’s. I saw this<b><span style="color: #990000;">
<a href="http://mashable.com/video-categories/featured/videos/cwNG92dzpVIpTAe23y3J1kQUi7hUSMiP" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">video</span></a> </span></b>posted to a friend’s wall and its perfect (warning not safe for work or
kids due to brief language).</div>
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October also has National Chocolate day on the 28<sup>th</sup>
so what can be a better way to celebrate our “go live” date. That’s the day we
officially went into circulation meaning our letters and link to our online
profile would go out to expecting parents thinking about adoption.</div>
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October also means it’s another year waiting to adopt. Which starts me thinking how much longer will
I put us through the emotional meat grinder.
I know in my heart the answer but with each passing year it gets harder
to wait.</div>
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October also means another trip to Ghana for Don. This year
the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Adanu-612763345508739/timeline/" target="_blank">charity</a> is building a playground for the school and is focused on the
kindergarten class. We’ve had friends
and my cousin generously donate puzzles, harmonicas, and Beanie Babies so
far. The lady at the coffee shop has
younger kids so she thinks she has some books they’ve out grown to donate and I’ve
picked up dice and wood building blocks so far.
I’ll be hitting up Good Will too to see if they’ve got books and games I
can send over.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqU481bOeQmijeMvNtdfdvZWUxi4NRdQHck2_JUSftfKErBihlSTf8NjsHSHC4AucPPwj_n1vyoxCSaJ1ACKng6MGts-_gpW_Z8Z-mJSO_KeAtwBFm6_m2aP8a20olxhIa9gavMTh5eHQ/s1600/DSC01798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqU481bOeQmijeMvNtdfdvZWUxi4NRdQHck2_JUSftfKErBihlSTf8NjsHSHC4AucPPwj_n1vyoxCSaJ1ACKng6MGts-_gpW_Z8Z-mJSO_KeAtwBFm6_m2aP8a20olxhIa9gavMTh5eHQ/s320/DSC01798.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Last year's Team in Ghana in front of the newly finished school</div>
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Don teaching his class about computers last year</div>
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This October also means our basement remodel will be
completed and I’m super excited. Our
cabinets were installed yesterday so we are inching closer and closer to being
done. Then we can start shopping for new furniture and relocate our living room
into the new space. With this remodel it opens up a large section to be a great
play area for our future little one to play in. </div>
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October means that Football season is in full swing and Baseball season is coming to a close.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9E9A66bC9EvZpZQm3A6OQuS7eZ7-0p6hQ92nP2pfEyFTXgR06-tJjDg9RtOvTHOr_Wih6tAzio_lNdcqN9nQY1tO-xsyea8hcYWvTb1WjCLZWaIyvyjU1LitbRD-oA7jO9zZgsWB5hus/s1600/IMG_4702.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9E9A66bC9EvZpZQm3A6OQuS7eZ7-0p6hQ92nP2pfEyFTXgR06-tJjDg9RtOvTHOr_Wih6tAzio_lNdcqN9nQY1tO-xsyea8hcYWvTb1WjCLZWaIyvyjU1LitbRD-oA7jO9zZgsWB5hus/s320/IMG_4702.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Us on Sunday at the Seahawks first home game</div>
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What does October mean to you this year?</div>
Don and Nicole's Adoption Journeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10681571111678974734noreply@blogger.com0