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| If you return to the Main Page, we hope that you will sign our guestbook. We hope to share the encouragement and kind words with Maria someday. |
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| 8/2/2006
Well, I cannot really hide what today is�I have already been given away by a couple of sweet entries in the guestbook. It is my birthday. My 35th birthday to be exact which has not been an easy one for me! You know, you have grand visions of your birthday (okay, I do, which may not be the norm for all J). You will sleep in, wake up and just relax while everyone waits on you hand and foot. Eat lots of chocolate�the calories don�t count of course on your birthday! Then your husband will take you out to eat to celebrate, you will show up and be surprised (happily) to see all of your dear friends�you will enjoy a night of laughter and fun, never once thinking about how old you are getting. Well, and of course, this year the �ideal� birthday would involve the color pink. Not so today. L Okay, so I didn�t get to sleep in. And we did have gymnastics, a teacher meeting, AND football games this evening. But I did start the day off with a beautiful dream about Maria; I was holding her in my arms. Then my dear hubby sent me a beautiful love �e-mail� letter. And I have received some very sweet messages and e-cards. And I get to eat crab legs on Friday. Maybe not the ideal �fantasy�, but a sweet treasure of my life! If you know me at all, I do this every year�my annual tradition of birthday blessings. I make a list of all of the blessings in my life equal to my age. It takes a little of the �sting� out of aging. J Now I could probably come up with a list of 100 but I am not that old yet. And these are not in any particular order. But they do all come from the heart� 35. Saturday night at home�the family watching our TLC shows 34. An ice cold 12 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew 33. A neck/back massage from my favorite masseuse�Mark J 32. Listening to my son Hunter read to me! 31. An organized house (still working on it�) 30. A walk around the neighborhood with my family 29. Scrapbooking with my sister 28. Holidays with our families 27. A weekend getaway in Branson 26. Hugs and pictures from my students 25. Crab legs from Catfish Hole�the best! 24. KLRC, my Christian radio station 23. The legacy of godly grandparents 22. Tuesdays (every other week) when I come home to a clean house 21. The colors of fall 20. Holding hands with my husband 19. An unexpected card or letter in the mail 18. Reading the comics each day�it is nice to start with a laugh 17. God�s faithfulness 16. My weekly prayer time 15. A hot bath at the end of a long day 14. Maria Elizabeth�s �besos� 13. My �caringbridge� friends who teach me daily about resting in God�s love 12. White lilies 11. Baked Potato Soup 10. Snow days! (not too many though) 9. Lauren�s infectious laugh 8. Fresh sheets on our bed 7. My co-workers�I am blessed to work side by side with these people! 6. Payday! 5. Book orders�all of those new books to choose from! 4. My heated car seats 3. Celebrating 10 years of marriage (this year) to my best friend 2. E-mail�I LOVE keeping in touch with both old and new friends� 1. You! |
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| 8/3/2006
1 Peter 5:7 �Casting all of your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.� Last night�s 10:00 prayer time was one of the more emotional ones. As you get older, you realize that the world doesn�t stop for your birthday. I do have to say though, it was a more difficult one than I have ever had. It started off nice, and then it quickly went downhill. I am not sure if it was the call from my dermatology clinic that the mole I had biopsied is considered �moderate dysplasia� and will have to be removed. Or maybe it was finding out that instead of waiting on �pink�, we are STILL waiting for a birth certificate, which means pink is still a ways out. Or maybe it was the insurance company who is insisting on documentation for Maria within 30 days even though we will not be picking her up until AFTER 30 days�they don�t seem to understand the world of international adoption. Or maybe it was someone I was seeking some help, some understanding, some answers to questions, and instead felt like I had my hand slapped for it. (None of you, I promise ) Needless to say, I am calling a �redo� on my birthday (not an additional one�I haven�t adjusted to being 35 yet) for Sunday. That is when I will celebrate with my family with a spaghetti dinner. That is what my heart needs right now. So anyway, we are a little downtrodden right now. I realize that it is just a few extra weeks, but this week marks the one year anniversary from when we started. I am really trying to �cast my cares� upon Him, rather than my accusations (�God, can�t one thing go smoothly? Why isn�t she here yet? Am I being punished???). We just want our little girl home with us. Thankfully, God knows exactly what we are dealing with�He had to wait for His own son to be home too. Thank you, God, for that. |