Hope Notes - My Gratitude Resolution

I have decided not to save my resolutions just for the new year. I am starting a new tradition of a "Gratitude Resolution". There is so much to be grateful for and I need to be better at recognizing that instead of complaining about the unimportant things that really don't matter. I am so excited to do THIS ! I have so many note cards floating around that this would be such a positive way to use them up (and give me a reason to go buy more - one of my many obsessions!). I plan to add gratitude reminders inside the cards, too.

May you find a hope note somewhere amongst your day or travel.

Fun Facts About T-Man

4. Also known as “Blue Eyes” or Ty-Ty

3. Loves pancakes, Little Einsteins cartoon, and his blue blanket Christy’s mom knitted for him.

2. He is a very sweet, gentle boy who loves to blow kisses, read books, complete puzzles and take baths.

1. He has filled a hole in our hearts that only he could have filled! He is fun, smart, and would make the best big brother! (Did I mention that he's smart?)

Fun Facts About Christy

4. Christy loves to learn – She completed a Master’s Degree in Education in 2005. She enjoyed teaching home economic skills to the students at the high school she graduated from. She now enjoys her new title of “Stay-at-Home-Mom” and putting into practice those home economic skills. Her favorite class when she was in school was Spanish. A little known fact about her is that she won a contest in elementary school for doing the hula hoop for over 30 minutes.

3. She is a “Law & Order” fanatic and loves a good drama movie. She loves anything chocolate. Playing with T-Man, going for walks, baking, planting Lilies in her Lily garden, and crafting keep her busy. She is very talented in many ways. Her favorite activity is snuggling up in a big blanket with T-Man and his books and reading the afternoon away. She loves children, kids, babies, nieces, and nephews! Nothing has made her happier than having her life-long dream fulfilled of being a mother. She has a tremendous amount of patience. She plans fun activities for T-Man to do each day from playgroups to finger painting with pudding.

2. Currently Christy is the secretary in the Primary (our church's childrens group). She used to teach the five year old children, work with the young women and has also played piano for the women's group and the children's group. She is extremely organized and is able to balance church, work, and home. She keeps our home in impeccable order and does so much to keep us on target to meet all the goals that we have set for our family.

1. The number one thing you should know about Christy is that is compassionate, dedicated, unselfish, and willing to do anything for anyone! She puts the needs of others before her own and I am so fortunate to have been introduced to her by my Father-in-Law and married to her for the past nine years.

Fun Facts About Eric

4. Eric grew up in central Illinois near the town of Normal. He is the youngest of three children and served in the United States Navy for three years. Currently he is working with an online trading company doing computer consulting. His last church calling also required him to work with computers. He has an amazing knowledge of computers and technology!

3. Eric LOVES math and working with numbers, peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly, please!) and making his famous Barbara Bush’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. Everyone else loves taste-testing the finished product. He has also mastered the art of baking pumpkin pies.

2. His favorite movie is The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his favorite color is blue, and he will listen to almost any type of music. He loves to take long drives and is a very patient person. He generously gives of his time and energy to help those in need. He is an amazing father. I grin at the big “mush-melon” that he has become because of T-Man!

1. The number one thing you should know about Eric is that he is AMAZING! He is a very hard working man, supports our family very well, and has a unique sense of humor. Eric is my support system with two enormous ears for listening, absorbent shoulders to cry on, and the world’s biggest heart!

Proud (of my) Mom MOMent

Way to go mother of mine!

My mom designed these "story" bracelets and sells them in a store in Nauvoo and now on this website. Go Momma -You sell girl! She is in the development phase of a "Birthmother" bracelet that tells an adoption story. I think I might know a few potential buyers for this one.

Random Thoughts for a Tuesday

• We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
• "Doubt indulged soon becomes doubt realized." ~ Frances Ridley Hanergal Our minds can make up stories faster than we can refute them. It's better not to let them get a head start!
  

American Idol Contestant I Shall Never Be

Not only is November National Adoption Awareness Month, but it is also the time when I can "legally" start playing my Christmas music and not hear too many complaints from the "Hub". I can't describe the warm fuzzies I feel when I hear almost any Christmas song ("Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" excluded). The toe tapping and uncontrollable singing started in the car this morning when I heard "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by the Barenaked Ladies.

My little heart was crushed and my dreams of becoming an American Idol contestant shattered when from the back seat I hear, "No Sing, Mamma". I think I will cry myself to sleep tonight after I sing a few Christmas songs to settle myself down.

Random Thoughts for a Tuesday

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• Remember that everyone you meet wears an invisible sign. It reads, "Notice me. Make me feel Important."
  

• "It's the unseen things that are the most important." ~Manilla Longan Most of our waking hours are spent dealing with the visible world. Yet, if we really stop to think about it, it's the unseen that most affects our lives - our spirituality, our dreams, our HOPES, our friendships, our loving, our meanings of life. Ultimately, these are what really count!
  

Random Thoughts for a Tuesday

• Faith is like electricity. You can't see it, but you can see the light.
• "No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." ~Agnes De Mille The trouble is we need to slow down to hear the silence!
  

Good Morning Matt Lauer

I believe the dominoes have stopped falling (confused? click here). The large TV has been installed on the wall, the speakers are attached and the components are functioning. The room is back! As I passed by the wall of TV yesterday morning, I had this strange pull to go make a poster board sign and hold it up in front of the TV. Good Morning Matt Lauer! -- It feels like you are walking in front of the NBC Today Show window.

The rest of the house has not fully recovered, but we shall get there.

As a note of humor, one of T-Man's books has a Q is for Quarry Excavator. We were quizzing him about the book and asked, "What does Q stand for?" He says, "Quarry Excavator -- That's a digger". Like, for those of you in the front seat that might not have a clue, the quarry excavator is similar to a digger -- duh! I love that little man! How blessed we are that he chose to come to our family -- he just took his own little route to get to us. I think that will be indicative of his life. He tends to do his own thing. When the crowd "all falls down" for ring-around-the-rosie, he has to stand. Love you, Bud!

Say Please

This is what my two year old son said to me. Apparently he did not care for the way I was clutching to/pulling on the photo he had twisted up in his sweaty little boy hand. I love his greasy little cheese covered fingers, but didn't care for them on the photo my friend just had made for us of our Halloween gathering. As I calmly explained, while pulling as hard as I could, the need to let go of the photo, my very smart little two year old quipped, "Say Please". Okay T-Man, point taken. Apparently, someone needs to teach me some manners! I think I got a dose of my own medicine and did not really care for the taste.

Love, Love, Love this quote:

While we try to teach our children all about life . . . our children teach us what life is all about.

What Can Brown Do For You?

Someone just LOVED Halloween this year. He got to pass out candy, trick-or-treat to a few houses, and dress up in costume. Oh yeah, and by the way, T-Man loved it, too :)

He actually "got it" this year. He was having a blast running to the door to pass out candy and shouting, "hurry, hurry, hurry" until the second to last doorbell ring when three middle school boys came. One was wearing a red skeletal mask and the other two had black masks with no faces. The eyes lit up red on one of them. T-Man took one look, started shaking, turned around and bolted between Eric's legs and took off as fast as he could in the other direction in tears. It was cute in a sad and pathetic sort of way. The last doorbell ring was two princesses so I don't think we have scarred him for life.

Going door-to-door was his favorite I think. He went up to each door and acted like he was best friends with everyone saying Hi, trick-or-treat, thank you, saying his name and age, bye-bye, etc. He didn't want to carry the package I made for him to hold his candy in, but we held it and at least we had something to store the loot in. He is one cute UPS man if you ask me!

A Whack-A-Mole Sort of Life

The last couple of months have been crazy! We have felt like we are living a live version of the "Whack-A-Mole" game. One crisis pops up and we are quick to hit it and and take care of it. Then two more pop up and we get one crisis averted and fix the other and the next crisis pops up. For a while there it was pure insanity, but I feel like things are getting back under control. At a church conference a month ago, one of the speakers said, "Come what may and love it". I am better at the "come what may" part than I am the "and love it" part. He went on to say, "How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life. If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness." I am trying to make the most of this "waiting time" we have as we attempt to find the other child and birth parents that are meant to be a part of our family.

I don't know why, but I have had this "nesting" instinct lately. I just want to get everything in order, cleaned out, lose the clutter, keep organized, follow the budget, use things up, practice frugality and just plain regain control over MY life and OUR life. Eric has been on the same page as I have, which has been SO nice. He's got the cleaning out, organize it bug and we're almost ready for whatever may come our way -- bring it on!

Finally....NOVEMBER

I am so excited for November! Not just for the cooler weather, but for National Adoption Awareness Month. November 15 is National Adoption Day - how will you be celebrating? T-Man and I have two speaking engagements about our adoption experience. Both are at high schools; one is the high school I graduated from and taught at for seven years and the other is the high school in our home town. We're so looking forward to sharing our story with these students enrolled in child development classes and giving them the opportunity to see what a positive thing adoption can be for both birth parents and for the adopting parents. We are also invited to a friend's home to celebrate with dinner and other families who have adopted next Saturday. Looking forward to that, too!

Anyone catch "HOUSE" last week? I spent most of the episode in tears; tears of laughter and emotional tears as we relived our adoption experience. The end of the episode hurt, but welcome to the emotional roller coaster called adoption! There are the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. Kudos to the writers for such an accurate portrayal of an adoption experience!

I also love November because it causes us to reflect on Tyler's birth mom and the love we have for her. As it is, we think about her every day, but November gives us the chance to think about her even more. We love you, VC -- thanks for giving us soooo many reasons to celebrate.