A Classy Date With an Affordable Price

David has been accepted to study for two weeks in Italy this July. We're really excited as he used to live there, is fluent in Italian and loves to go back. Our flights are free and we're hoping for some scholarship money, but know we'll have to raise some funds ourselves. Consequently, David is having a recital of his compositions and of him singing. The recital is free, but donations are welcome. So, whatever your budget, this is an event you can afford!

When Dreams Meet Reality

We got a phone call yesterday telling us a little boy had just been born in Louisianna and asking if we wanted him. Of course we want him! We would really like to adopt a baby boy in the next year. Unfortunately, we can't afford him. It's such a heart breaking situation. I wanted to just hop on a plane, wrap him up and bring him home. But the starting cost is $18,000, not including hospital costs and attorney fees in Louisianna and Utah. At times like this, I wish I were wealthy and just had 20K lying in a bank somewhere.

I immediately starting thinking of ways to pay for it - call Chase and have them increase our credit card limit, call the credit union and get a loan, sell our car (not worth enough), rob a bank. Unfortunately, even if we got the loan or had our credit limit increased, we wouldn't be able to make the monthly payments.

Our only hope at this point is to find a baby on our own, or finally sell our house in Houston and make a little profit (although we're just hoping to break even on that one). I don't know how people adopt multiple children. I know some that have adopted eight or more. How do they do it? I have no idea.

One of the biggest frustrations in my life is knowing that there are so many children out there that need a home and facing my inability to bring them into mine. I know foster care is an option, but we have never felt that was the right path for us. I still have faith that our next baby is out there somewhere and that when the time is right, our paths will cross. I know that David and Baylie were worth waiting for and that has strengthened my faith and gives me hope.

Amish Friendship Bread

My sweet friend Dayna just gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter. For those of you who don't know how it works, you get the starter in a large zip lock bag and you mush the bag for 10 days. Then on the last day, you add additional ingredients and make the bread. But before you make the bread, you remove three cups and pass each one on to another person and they start the process all over again. The bread is really yummy.

Well, my starter is going to be ready on Sunday. I've already promised one of my pass on cups to my sister in law. Does anyone want the other two?

When Life Slaps You In the Face

Okay, I know I'm getting older and I live in a very young neighborhood, but the last two days I have had that fact brought to my attention in major ways.

Number 1: Tuesday morning I picked up a young woman from Argentina who is getting ready to serve a mission in Washington, DC. When I was a missionary in Argentina, Cynthia was a little 4-year-old girl. She and her little sister used to pretend that they were me and my companion. I can't believe she is now old enough to be a missionary herself. Where has the time gone? (Michelle, I stole your photo.)


Number 2: Tuesday night I was at a meeting for the women's organization in my church group. Some of the women were talking about age and when they graduated from high school. I mentioned that I graduated in 1986 and the woman in charge of our group looked at me and said that was the year she was born. Aagh! Then I said that it was the same year David was in kindergarten and another woman said that makes me a cougar. Hmmm, guess so.

Number 3: Yesterday I was reading a friend's blog and realized she knew some people that I knew. So I talked to her about it and found out that I grew up with her mother! Gasp! I think of myself as being close to her age, not her mother's.

Then there was the lady a couple days ago who asked me if Baylie was my granddaughter. What?! It reminds me of when David and I were first married and I would get asked if I was his mom. Sigh.

Okay, enough of that. I think I'll just focus on the lady I met Sunday at the Vegas airport who said that she could tell I was a great mom just by watching me and talking to me. I like her - Valerie from Denver. She also told me that love knows no color. Yeah, I'm going to think about Valerie.

Happy Birthday, Tiffani!

My sister, Tiffani, was born before the days of sonograms that advised the sex of an unborn baby. My mother's doctor who was notorious for not predicting, assured my mother that the baby would be a boy because the heartbeat was so strong. Well, Tiffani was born on April Fools Day and she fooled them all. Thank goodness because she is my only sister and my very best friend.

Tiffani is the opposite of me. She is six feet tall (she'll say 5'11", whatever!), she has blond hair, she turns heads for the right reason and she is very tenderhearted - I remember when she made my parents rescue the mouse that had been caught by our cat. She was athletic and popular in high school, but she was the girl that always sought out the kids that didn't have many friends. I have always wanted to be more like her, never more than now that I'm a mother. She's a great mom.

I love you, Tiff!

Another Mother/Daughter Moment

Here is Baylie in another one of my childhood dresses. This one is from Guatemala where my grandparents lived for a while. My grandpa was a professional Boy Scout and my grandparents lived in various countries in Latin America establishing the Boy Scouts.

Farewell to Arms

I've wanted to post about Adam's funeral for awhile, but I'm not really sure what to say. I haven't gone into much detail about his death because I don't think that would be appropriate, but it's a sad situation. The funeral was very moving. I'd never been to a military funeral before. Adam was buried in the veteran's cemetery in Houston and his funeral included a 21-gun salute, the playing of Taps (which is when I really cried) and the presentation of flags to his mother, wife and children. I would love to post pictures of all of that, but I don't want to invade anyone else's privacy. Consequently, I'll just post some pictures that I think convey the mood without showing any of the family.

Deployments
Iraq - January 27 - July 5, 2003
Kuwait - August 1, 2004 - July 3, 2005
Afghanistan - February 23, 2007 - May 23, 2008

Awards and Decorations
Army Commendation Medal (2nd Oak Leaf Cluster)
Army Achievement Medal (1st Oak Leaf Cluster)
National Defense Service Medal
Iraqi Campaign Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Presidential Unit Citation