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Friday, December 26, 2008

The Grinch and other random musings.

[Brace yourself -- this could be lengthy]

As you may have noticed by my lack of yule-themed posts, I was a major Grinch this year. No tree, no cards and no Christmas cheer. [Merry belated Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, ect.] I can think of a variety of excuses: I worked through Thanksgiving so it never really felt like Christmas, the weather didn't suit the holiday-- but I think it all comes back to one reason. It's a central theme on this blog. I'm sure you can guess it.

The holidays are just reminder that another year has come and gone with out a baby - in my arms or in my belly. I can't help but think about how this could be our second Christmas with a baby if we'd gotten pregnant when we started 'trying'. I won't dwell too much on that -- same song, different verse. But, I have been thinking that it's about time that Heath and I are a little more pro-active for Baby Hunt 2009 [that's what I'll call it now ;) ]. It seems like all of these opportunities are just a few steps away...but we never take that next step to put things in motion. Between failed adoptions, IVF financing, the cost of agency adoptions -- it all seems out of our reach. So, rather than sit and wait for something to fall in our laps, I think it's time to take some action.

I want to go ahead and have a home study and become approved foster parents. I'm not sure where I think this will take us, but I just feel led to do it. I'm not quite sure where Heath stands on it. If you know us, you know that I usually make decision for 'us' and he's none the wiser. I mentioned it, but we've yet to have a serious conversation about it.

You might be wondering (but you probably aren't) what brought me to make this decision. I'm going to tell you whether you care of not. You're reading this, so I assume you care. I worked last Saturday in the ER. When I came in for my shift, there was a beautiful little girl - probably 2 months old - that was waiting for the police to take her to the shelter. Apparently her parents (I use that term loosely) had gotten drunk, started fighting, and she was stuck in the middle. The story was that dad dropped her and then fell on top of her, but the bruises told a different story. It broke my heart knowing that she would be spending the night in a shelter. I held her for about an hour. The nurses chipped in and bought her a nice warm long sleeved onsie from the gift shop to replace the thin, stained Halloween onsie she came in wearing. I literally begged the police officer to just let me take her. I'm a doctor. I'm clean. I'll love on her and take good care of her, I promise. It's better than the shelter. But, of course they had no choice but to take her.

I couldn't help but think how easy it could have been if we'd already had our home study done and were licensed to foster. Hold up - before you start thinking that I was delusional in thinking that I could whisk this baby away and keep her, it wasn't like that. I knew good and well that she would quickly go back to her parents. It wasn't about keeping her to be mine. It was about loving on her for 24 hours or longer so that she wouldn't have to spend the night in a shelter. So, for the first time - it wasn't about me, and a baby for Heath and I - it was just about being a temporary shelter and loving parent to this baby when she needed it. And, I wondered if I could do that for other babies. In the meantime. Until God has a baby for us for keeps. I feel like I'm in a profession where I will, obviously, come across this a lot.

And, of course, I know it could be a difficult situation for someone who wants a baby as badly as we do. It could be a string of heartache as we grow attached and each baby is taken from us to be given back to a parent who surely couldn't love her like we do. But, when I was holding that little girl, it didn't feel like I wanted her to keep. I just wanted to protect her.

Not real sure how that will turn out. It seems to be a trend where if I blog about something, it never comes true. Maybe I should worry about that. But, either way, I'll keep you posted.

Friday, December 19, 2008

tagged.

Megan tagged me in a fun little picture game.

The rules:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer


2) Select the 4th picture in the folder


3) Explain the picture4) Tag 4 people to do the same


NO CHEATING!(cropping, editing, etc!)

This is me and my sweet sister and MOH, Sarah at my Bachelorette party. Two days from my wedding and I was out on the town having a blast with the most amazing group of girls. I was so blessed to have about 17 girls show up to help celebrate with me. We had so much fun, maybe too much fun - but that's what it's all about, right?

I tag: Beka, Courtney, Leah and Julia.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Yesterday was not a good day. I was in the ER again from 1a - 1p, and found myself driving home at 1:45 a.m. crying my eyes out.

My sister texted me around 11pm to let me know that Elijah had passed away. Pleases, please, please say a prayer for Aaron and Katie, his parents. I cannot imagine the pain and loss that they are experiencing right now. And, just 9 days from Christmas? Every Christmas for the rest of their lives they will be reminded that they lost their sweet, newborn baby boy during the holidays. Pray that God will wrap them up in His arms and just hold them tight. There are no words to say to make them feel better, but I pray that they can lean on Him through this loss. I pray that God strengthens their new marriage and that they can find peace that their baby is with Him now.

Then, a baby was brought in by EMSA. The story was that dad found him choking on formula and then the baby basically stopped breathing. He was down for far too long and EMSA worked on him a long time to bring him back. When he got to the ER, he was just a shell of a baby. No life in his eyes. His chest only moving due to the ventilator pumping air into him. The story didn't match up. But, regardless of the reason, this baby will not make it.

Sorry for the downer of a post. But, while we're all celebrating with our families this coming week, just say a little prayer or send some warm thoughts for these families who are struggling to just get out of bed and go on with life.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

one more thing.

Please take a second today (and every day) to say a prayer for sweet, baby Elijah. My sister's good from from high school and his wife had their beautiful son 10 days ago. When he was just one week old he was medi-flighted up to Children's hospital and he's now fighting for his life. Just say a prayer. Please.

KC recap.

I'm a little behind, but I thought I would recap our weekend..er, make that 24 hours, in Kansas City.

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to start the 5 hour trek to KC. I decided to wear my warm game-day clothes in the car. Not a good idea. Skinny jeans, boots, and a turtle neck ride up in all the wrong places after a few hours.

[Not in Oklahoma anymore]

We finally arrived around 1:30 and hit up the Plaza right away. We met up with our gracious host, Amanda, and her and I did some shopping while Heath drank a few cold ones in a bar down the street.

When it finally came time to head to the stadium, we decided to forgo the GPS directions and proceeded to get very lost in a veerrry sketch part of town. After driving in circles for what seemed like forever, I finally rolled down the window and asked a nice post-woman how to get to Arrow Head stadium. In her best Aunt Jamima voice, she says "Ooooooh, Hooonnney" and it was pretty evident that we were not only no where near our destination, but not exploring the best part of town.

We finally found the stadium around and the rowdy group of tailgaters that we were looking for around 4:00. My dear friend, Megan decided to bail -- thanks a lot, Meg! (She's 20 months preggo, guess that's a good excuse!) So, I was stuck with a group of inebriated boys. It was pretty entertaining. And, I did my best to catch up with them since they seemed to be pretty toasty and warm from all the Crown and beer they'd been consuming since noon.

[This is how your husband greeted us, Meg!]


[Don't judge me. It really does warm you up :) ]


[The boys]


[freezing]


[You know women would have packed plates, but at least the boys knew how to cook. Here's my dinner: beer and a pork chop on a stick]

[note to self: Russian dancing thaws out those frozen toes]


After tailgating for too many hours, we finally made it into the stadium. It was beyond cold. This Okie girl doesn't do well with cold weather. I had toe warmers stuck to the bottoms of my socks and hand warmers inside of my socks and I still couldn't feel my toes. I guess that's what I get for trying to wear my cute boots with thin socks to a football game.


I was fully prepared to stick it out to the end of the game, but when we were blowing Mizzou out of the water by halftime (BOOMER SOONER!), Heath turned to me and said "Uh...we can go back to the Plaza now if you want." No arm twisting there. Cold beer, warm pizza. What more could I ask for?

We met up with some friends later that night, but made it to bed by 1:30.

Sunday, we hit up JackStack for some KC Bar-B-Q. After a little more shopping (am I the only one who buys 3 things for myself for every 1 Christmas present I buy??), we headed back to the homeland. Here are a few pics to describe how we felt after about 4 hours on the road:



Needless to say, driving 10 hours in 24 hours is a bit much. We're still recovering.


Thursday, December 11, 2008

Workin' hard for my monaaay.

Sorry I've been MIA again. I've been trying to find time to recap our KC trip, but I've been working my tail off. I'm in the ER this month, which is usually claims a pretty easy schedule. But, since I was off this weekend, my shifts are stacked up this week. I'm working 1pm - 1am six days in a row. I get home at 1:30, go to bed around 3 am and then wake up at around 11 to do it all again. It's a rough life, kids. Rough, indeed.

I'll post your face off this weekend. Don't you worry!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

::drumroll please::

The winner of the Pass it On contest is.....













Joi of Nuestra Vida Dulce. Congrats, Joi! Email me your address (email addy in side bar) and I'll send your prize your way very soon! And, don't forget, you have to keep the game going by passing on your own little treat!

Thanks to everyone who participated and for sharing all of the wonderful blessings in your life. It's amazing how many lurkers come out of hiding when there's a giveaway up for grabs! Hope you guys stick around and don't make yourselves strangers! I wish I had 30 prizes to give away.

Friday, December 5, 2008

KC or bust.

The husband and I are headed to Kansas City this weekend for a spur of the moment trip. We're driving up tomorrow, going to the Big 12 Championship game (cheering the Sooners on to victory over Mizzou!), shopping our faces off on Sunday and then heading home.

I'm sick with laryngitis, so I won't be doing much cheering. I'm sure the 24 degree weather won't do any good for my voice. Okies aren't used to this kind of weather. Heath and I just spent $70 dollars on hand warmers, gloves, ear muffs, and thermals. I also scored a cute coat at Old Navy today:


Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Lots of pictures will be posted when we return. And, I'll be drawing a winner for the Pass it On contest - so hurry up and comment below if you haven't yet!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Just a few...

reasons I love my husband.

He went to see Twilight with me this weekend. I was a little nervous to see it. I loved the books so much and I'd heard so many bad reviews. But, I was even more nervous about seeing it with Heath. He and his friends (you know who you are!) teased me unmercifully about reading 'vampire' books. So, I told him before hand that he wasn't allowed to say a word no matter how cheesy it was. As soon as we sat down, he whipped out his phone and started checking football scores. It wasn't long before I noticed that he was watching the movie more than catching up on his sports. When we walked out of the theater, I told him I couldn't want to tell his friend that he'd seen the movie with me. And he said "I'm sure you'll write in your blog 'Bubbles went and saw Twilight with me!'" And, he actually liked it! He's already signed up to see the next one with me. (I actually really loved it too...more on that in another post)

I bugged Heath all day Sunday about putting Christmas lights on the house. We've lived together for almost 4 years, but we've never put lights up 0utside. I debated bringing some home with me after my shopping excursion on Sunday, but decided against it because I knew he didn't really want to do it. Well, today, I worked from 1pm - 1am in the ER. When I turned the corner onto our street, I saw our house all lit up with lights! My sweet husband suprised me by putting pretty little white lights all along the roof line of the house in the dark when he got home after a long day at work!

Monday, December 1, 2008

better late than never.

I haven't forgotten about the little contest I am supposed to be hosting on my blog. I'm just a procrastinator - it's how I roll. If you've forgotten, I won a fabulous prize from Freckle's Chick and now it's my turn to Pass it On!

Here's the loot:


An adorable pink and white damask apron, just in time for some Holiday cooking - modeled by yours truly.
excuse the blurriness, it's hard to stand on your tippy-toes and take a picture!

A bottle of my most favorite hand lotion of all time. It leaves your hands silky smooth, non-greasy and deliciously edible! My sister calls this the Sopapilla lotion - it smells that good.


So, here's what you do:

- To enter this contest, simply leave a comment telling me about a blessing in your life.

-- If you'd prefer not to participate, I totally understand. But I would still love to hear from you, so please fee free to leave a comment anyway. De-lurking is encouraged!

-- I will print out your comments, toss them in a basket, and have Bubbles draw the names of the winner on Sunday, December 7th. I will post the results the next day.

-- The winner will need to email me some sort of address in order for me to mail their gifts. I promise I'm not a stalker. I will not drive to your house and leave you creepy gifts of headless dolls on your porch. I'll send you your gift and then destroy your address and all other evidence promptly.

-- The name of the game is Pass It On, so if you are a winner, it's encouraged that you in turn do something similar for your readers. Sound like a plan? Now hop to it!