3 years ago today...

I met the man of my dreams!! I remember it like it was yesterday...the excitement of the first date and going shopping with my girlfriends for the perfect outfit. I wore a black velour jumpsuit and a pink shirt.
We has talked on the phone often but I remember being very cautious and being grateful that Jeff was so sweet to suggest a public place like a dog park to meet. I was also grateful because I knew Harvey would let me know if Jeff was shady. He's a great judge of character as most dogs are! It was very cold and windy that day, very different from the 75 degree weather we're having today. When Jeff walked up t me,I was picking up Harvey's puppy business with one of the dogie bags at the park. How romantic is that?! Harvey showed his approval by not barking at Jeff. Jeff and I had a wonderful time talking at the park before going to Starbucks to sit outside with Harvey, drink coffee, and get to know each other better. We sat there until it was no longer humanly possible to sit in the cold! Jeff walked me to the car and gave me a Valentine before saying goodbye. I remember wondering if the Valentine was a good sign, but knew it was when Jeff asked me out for our second date and first formal date to the Grotto on 2/15/06.
I've been very sentimental leading up to today and was so excited when Jeff brought home a dozen roses and a sweet card last night!! How thoughtful especially because it was 11 PM before he made it home from work and he was exhausted!! Today we celebrated by having lunch together at California Pizza Kitcheen since Jeff won't be home for dinner. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful guy and to share this journey called life with him! I love you, Jeffie!!

Party like it's 1989!

I made a solo trip to Dallas this past weekend to see my nephews and celebrate my bro-in-law, Wade's 30th birthday. They threw a totally rad 80's themed party!!








After a long week, it was great to spend some alone time in the car processing and then relax with my sister and her fam! I was missing the boys SO much and they are growing up way too fast!! While I was there, I got to go to Clayton's 2nd ever soccer game. He's quite the little jock and got 4 goals! He was super cute in his uniform too! Each kid even got a sweat band with their names on it to help the coaches remember their names. This photo is the hilarious result of the following conversation:
Me: Clayton, let me take a picture of you and your daddy.
Clayton: says no and hides his face.
Sarah: He doesn't want his picture taken, Becca. Just take a picture of his daddy.
(snap)Before I left on Sunday to spend a few precious non-work hours with my hubby, I got one last photo with my precious nephews! I miss them already! Check out the entry below to see an update on our lives and the process of starting our own little family.

We're still here

Well, once again we've been on a blogging hiatus. Sorry to drop the adoption bomb and then leave you wondering what was going on. On the adoption front, there are no changes, except that I have begun furniture shopping for the lil' guy's room. Any suggestions for affordable, good quality furniture? I want it to be something that can grow with him. I don't think we will need a toddler bed, so it will need to be "big boy" furniture from the beginning. Jeff has been working a million hours as it is year end time so we won't finish the training until next month. I have been trying to gather all the information required for our application. Right now I am trying to draw a floor plan of our home. This would be easier if we built the home, but we didn't so now I am trying to play architect.

Mixed in with all this craziness, I quit my job at DePelchin last week. I was freaking out after "one of those days" and I said enough is enough. The next day I put in my notice. I have to give a whole month notice so in the mean time I am interviewing for a new job. I expect an offer this week from a psych hospital in Bellaire. Now if that's not a total shift, I don't know what is! I'll be working with adults with dual diagnosis. We will see. I've also applied to train to get my alternative teaching certification. I'm trying to keep my options open. Anyway, I would love to forget it all and be a stay at home mommy, but that's not an option right now. In the meantime I'm going to try to take this opportunity to grow professionally. It has been sad telling my families, especially the kids, but they are a resilient bunch, so I'm sure they'll be fine!

Our journey ...

to adoption. Some of you know, but many of you do not that Jeff and I have begun the process to become verified to adopt a child out of the foster care system. This post is dedicated to telling our story of how we came to this decision and the process we will under go in the next few months.

I've been working with foster and adoptive families for a little over 2 years, but it wasn't until recently that I began considering and talking to Jeff about bringing one of these children into our home. At one of the many points in which I attempted to change jobs over the last two years the opportunity presented itself to move to the Fort Bend office location and continue in the same role with different families. I agonized over whether I should accept the position since the position was really what I didn't like, not the families. However, gas prices were astronomically high at the time and I decided serving families closer to our home was worth the change. This is all vital information because had I not moved to the other office, I wouldn't have met Prince Harry, a sweet red haired eight year old boy waiting to be adopted.

Upon one of my first visits to the home, Prince Harry asked me when he was going to get to go home with his family. He didn't mean his biological family as their parental rights had been terminated some time ago, he meant his adoptive family. You see, his caseworker from CPS had come to his foster home, taken his picture, and told him she was going to use it to find him an adoptive family. It had been months and his foster mother said at one time he was asking every day, but this was the first time in a while that he had asked. This broke my heart!! In the days and weeks to come I became angry, not with the worker, but with a system that is over burdened to the point where Prince Harry's picture was sitting on some one's desk who was too busy to write up a narrative and broadcast it. This was the next step for Prince Harry and then each agency in the area would submit home studies of families they believed would be a great new family for Harry. Four families would then be selected to be presented by their agencies adoption specialist for consideration. During this very important meeting, called a RAS, a family would be selected for Prince Harry. I began thinking a lot about Harry and talking to Jeff about the thought that perhaps we were supposed to adopt him. Jeff did not have a peace about it and this caused some strife because I thought for sure we were meant to be this child's parents. During this time Jeff and I attended the first meeting of a new ministry at HFBC, the Adoption and Orphan Care ministry. We met other families considering adoption of various types, including international, domestic private adoption, and foster care adoption. We continue to be encouraged by these families who are all at different points on their adoption journey.

Several months after I first began working with Prince Harry I attended a meeting and was told that Prince Harry would be broadcast in the next couple of days and that several families had expressed interest in Harry at a waiting families meeting the night before. I had a rush of intense, conflicted emotion as I was SO happy that Harry had a lot of wonderful options for an adoptive family, but I was devastated that it wouldn't be us. As time has passed, I have realized that though Prince Harry wasn't meant to be a member of our family, God brought him into our lives to open our hearts to the idea of adopting and to prepare the way for the child God has ordained to join our family. Prince Harry is still waiting for a family to be selected and we pray for him often.

This brings me to our current situation. After researching countless agencies in our area and attending some informational meetings, we have finally selected the agency that will assist us with our adoption. Arrow Child & Family Ministries was founded by a godly man that grew up in the foster care system. He has focused his agency on the heart of God for foster care and adoption and used his experience to build a child-centered program that promotes Christian values. We have to drive all the way to the Woodlands for training, but it is totally worth the drive!! Jeff and I began training in child development and communication this past Saturday. So far we are very impressed with the biblical based training filled with scripture, unheard of in the non-profit world! As Jeff is entering year end at work we will be unable to continue training until March. We will then under go the home study process which will include hours of interrogation by a well meaning, but necessarily nosy social worker. Hopefully our home study will be approved and then we will wait for our child to be matched with us. This brings me to the end of this very long post, but this is only the beginning of our adoption journey. Please join us in prayer for our future child that they would be safe, well nurtured, and their heart would be beginning to be prepared to be adopted into our family and more importantly God's family. Also please pray for Prince Harry as he waits.

"For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." - Romans 8:15

Bye Bye Blue

While on vacation from work, we undertook another home decorating project that I have been looking forward to for a while. We painted one of our guest bedrooms. After closer examination it appears that the previous owners not only let their kid pick the color, but the painting looks like it was done by a child too! This is what the room looked like before. Now that is a lot of bright Tiffany Blue for one room!

We decided to paint three of the walls a lighter color and make the wall with the window on it an accent wall. I choose Gobi desert as the lighter color and Wild Manzanita for the accent wall. We really enjoyed saying "Bye Bye" to the blue.

Here is the final product. I personally think the room looks bigger. What do ya'll think? I am quite sure the gobi desert will be the primary color of our home when it is time to repaint the hall ways, etc. I love that it is dark enough to add warmth, but not so dark that it makes the space appear smaller than it is.

S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R

Truly Magical.........I think I had more fun than the kids sitting next to us!!!
We were told not to take pictures or video and it made me mad when other people did, but we are rule followers at our house so we waited and took a picture at home with the program!

Out with the old, in with the New

Jeff and I got back yesterday afternoon from 2 1/2 fabulous days in San Antonio celebrating the New Year! This has become a tradition for us and I look forward to it all year. This was our third year to go. We left Houston on 12/30/08 and told the cat we'd see her next year. We stopped at my fav' Buccees and still made it to San Antonio just in time for Six Flags to open for Holiday in the Park. We walked, enjoyed the scenery, a few rides, and some shows. Wednesday morning we slept in and enjoyed our hotel before going to the Tower of the Americas. We had New Year's Eve lunch at the Chart House restaurant located in the Tower of the Americas. It is similar to the ball in Dallas because it rotates and you get to see a 360 degree aerial view of San Antonio. I like this picture because you can see our hotel in the window behind us. We stayed in a brand new hotel called the Grand Hyatt. It was really pretty and a short walk from the tower and festival. It also was the hotel where all the activities were occurring for the upcoming US Army bowl game this weekendJeff actually wanted his picture taken in front of the towerSan Antonio has a really neat New Year's tradition of placing the date of the outgoing year on the tower on New Year's Eve and turning it to the incoming year date at the strike of midnight. You can also see the elevator on the side of the tower go up and when it arrives at the top the countdown is over and the fireworks begin. After lunch we walked around the park surrounding the tower and the little shops before going back to the hotel to rest up for the festival. The festival that occurs in San Antonio in honor of New Year's Eve is always packed so I can't imagine what NYC time square is like. This is me trying to capture the feel of the festival. You can almost smell the corn dogs and funnel cakes!
Just before midnightFireworks signal the beginning of 2009!On New Year's Day we walked on the river walk, and ate lunch before heading home. I enjoyed taking pictures of the river walk with my new cameraWe ate New Year's Day lunch at Michelangio's on the River walk. I recommend it for yummy Italian food. Jeff boycotted having his picture taken AGAIN, but agreed to snap this one of me solo.The drive home is always kind of sad because the "holiday season" is officially over, but this time we had more fun to look forward to. We are going to see this tonight, SO exciting