Chunky Monkey and Petita

I’ve started watching this sweet chunky monkey along with my sweet petita.  They weigh about the same (right around 20 pounds), are the same size, and are a year and a half apart.

O, and they like it when I pick them up at the same time – HELLO biceps!

Start, Spark, Begin

As the New Year resolutions begin to wind down and become tangled in the day-to-day operation of good intention (in my case it often stops there) I can’t help but think that is why I don’t think 2010 (or any other year) will be THE YEAR that makes me or others truly different.  But, I can’t stop hoping to start again either.

For me, the changing of the year doesn’t hold the promise it does for some.  It’s the middle of winter, I’ve gained the holiday weight, and it’s raining outside with little chance of stopping until May.  So I think I really prefer my new beginnings in the spring.

In the spirit of the season (even if it isn’t stirring my soul) there is a spark of positive change in the wind for us.

We are hoping to make some changes in this household.  We don’t have the resources we need to live the life God is calling us to live.  We live comfortably, lacking nothing, and are pretty spoiled in many ways.  But, we need to change our spending habits.  We need to change our home.  We need to change our lifestyle.  All that if we want to add another member to our family through adoption, if I ever get to be a full-time stay at home mom, or if we ever want more room in our house.

So, here are some of our activities this month and some of our intentions for the year.

This month we’ve been doing the “Eat From the Pantry Challenge”.  We have continued to buy milk and eggs, but otherwise we are trying hard to just eat up what we already have.  It’s surprising how much we have tucked away and how easy it has been.  Not all the meals have been stellar, but all have been edible.

We are cleaning the garage and I wish I had taken pictures.  It went from trash-heap to a usable workspace.  Now to start using the workspace to create some things to make changes around our home.

We are beginning to use coupons again after a hiatus of not using them (partly because we stopped getting the newspaper and mostly because I am lazy). Now Hubby is getting them online.

We hope to begin living on only Hubby’s paycheck. We haven’t done that in years past and we aren’t sure yet if it will be a reality for us in the future.

We hope to pay off Husband’s school loans.  They aren’t overwhelming (like mine), and we are tired of having them around.

We hope to begin volunteering in our community once a month, in ministries we believe in and are drawn to.  As Christians, I thought we probably should know who the “least of these” are in our community.

We hope to have less screen time in our lives.  Less TV, less browsing, less blogs, less phones/iPods/games, just less.  And to replace it with relationships and fruitful labor.

This year, I hope to live my priorities.

I would love to hear from those who read this (family and friends) how do you save?  What have you done recently that was fulfilling? Challenging? Helpful to yourselves or others?  What goals top your list?

Family Expansion II

Well, we submitted our application for adoption #2 to International Family Services in mid-December.  For the first adoption, I started blogging about half-way through the process and really in some ways that makes the most sense.

Our family and dear friends already understand, and most other people who read this blog have already been through (or are going through) adoption, so they get it.  Other people might not.  This first step is like saying you are trying to get pregnant.  You don’t know if you can get pregnant but you assume you can.  People start asking you about it.  You may get pregnant right away or it make take a long time or it may never happen.  If it doesn’t happen right away then SOME people begin to feel sorry for you.  So, I debated whether to share this or whether to wait until we actually have something in the way of real news.  But if I’m going to show you all how I leave flammable hot mitts in the oven while cooking, then this shouldn’t raise any eyebrows, right?

What we’ve done is made the decision to do this again.  We have no idea how long this will take or what country we will adopt from but we are up for the journey.  And even though this is part deux we have no expectation this process will even faintly resemble our last.  But I will try to keep the blog updated.

Whatever happens next we will go with the flow.  Not like there is any real option (at least in our experience).

I do feel better equipped this time around.  I’ve been gathering ideas and information as we begin the deranged journey called adoption.

On my list already:

• Get binder in order – check
• Make 5 copies of licenses, passports, tax forms, birth certificates, and marriage license – check
• Submit application – check
• Transfer first large sum of money – check
• Make list of resources for financial help – in process

Phew, I forgot how just how much work this is…

Big Girl Bed

Transitions.  It feels like we were just laying our sweet little baby in her crib and this weekend she grew up and out of it.  Yep, it was time for a “big girl bed”.  Hubby’s boss (and good friend) graciously asked us if we wanted to use the bed he MADE for his kids.  Of course, knowing his talents and high quality standards we said an emphatic yes.  It did not disappoint.

How can she be that big?!?

She loves it.  So far she has slept in it two nights and is doing great with the transition.  She has “Baby Band-Aid” and “Baby Me” (her names for her baby dolls) sleeping up there with her along with a veritable zoo.  Besides sleeping in it, it is her current favorite place to play.

Speaking of growing up and transitions, I really hope she goes through an awkward growing-into-herself phase.  How else is she going to ever learn some manner of being a normal person instead of a celebrity?  I mean, really, look at her.  How many pairs of giant sunglasses, hats, and frumpy sweaters am I going to have to find otherwise?

A random additional picture for this post.  Here she is reading to her lego-man.  You can see him just barely peeking over the book.

Happy New Year!

Looking back…

Happy (Late) Birthday

Well, the munchkin’s birthday was almost a month ago, but hubby was moving the blog onto a new web host, then Christmas, so the blog got pushed to the back burner.  Sunita is a princess and charms all she meets.  The college students who have day-to-day contact with her at my work threw her a “surprise party”.

A picture of the me and (my best friend) wonderful hostess.  Thanks Auntie J.

She really enjoyed herself and the college kids went all out.  They are so sweet and got very clever gifts.  I suppose it doesn’t surprise me all that much – they just thought of what would make them happy and bought it for her.  After all, the difference between 20-year-olds and 2-year-olds is very small. =D

Can you tell how much she adores them as well?  I think her best friends are college students.

On her actual birthday (we celebrated with the college kids a little early) it was also her dedication at church. I know the picture’s a bit grainy; it’s really dim in church during winter.  I mean the one true Light shines bright, just not so much the ceiling lights.

Is that love or what?  After dedication and church we got to eat lunch with Hubby’s family at Granny’s (great-grandma).

Blow!  After her nap we had family and friends over to celebrate.  Sunita’s a book addict, so that was her cake theme this year.

I don’t know how many people will understand this, but it was a sad/happy day for me.  I am so happy that she is with her forever family and I feel SO blessed to have her as part of my life.  I was so sad for her Indian mom on that day though.  I thought about her a lot and wondered if she was missing her daughter.  I wondered if she felt an empty ache and longed to know her daughter.  I think birthdays may always bring those feelings up for me (and maybe for the munchkin too one day).  I wish I could thank her Indian mom.

Not to leave you depressed…

She really did like her cake, although I have no pictures to prove that.

There wasn’t much room to ride on her birthday.  Small living room + a few people = no room to breathe.

A great rocking chair.  She loves to rock (and roll).  In this picture she is very seriously using Daddy’s iPod.  There is a program on it where she can listen to animal sounds.  She loves it and knows how to get to it by herself.

She got another really cute outfit from Auntie M.  I have no good pictures of it yet, but I will get some.

Old man girl and her most favorite activity in the world – tea party (given to her by one of the college kids).  I have to say I would never have bought a tea party set.  It would not have crossed my mind.  We (most often her Dad and I, but whoever is around) have tea parties every … *&$# … day.  I kid you not.

And if you need a little smile, I hope this will do it.

Nap Time

Cooking with Flair [Updated]

Yep, that’s how I roll.

**Updated: that is not a cooking book, that is a reading addiction.

One Year Ago…

Two days late is better then never, right?

Then.

Now.

We’ve celebrate you and love you baby (even when you wake us in the middle of the night – but that’s a story for another time).

by misty

The jackets (she still wears both)

The hat

The dress/shirt

One of my favorites, the “princess” dress

This used to be one of Jason’s shirts, although I think it looked a little different when he wore it.  Can you see the button in the flower?

The skirt

Misty is prolific, that lovely lady.  Generous, kind, talented, and loving. Lucky, lucky us.  Thank you so much.