Autumn!! :)

This is my favorite season. I love the colors, the rain, the smell......yes, the smell. This is the time of year I spend most of my time outdoors. The wood stoves burning and the field burning (love the mix of scent in the air). I start to crave pumpkin pie. There aren't as many bugs flying around outside this time of year either. I just get so much energy from Autumn. I look forward to it every year because I know I will get more stuff done. I've heard most people get depressed when the rain comes.....I'm just the opposite. It's rejuvenating, and brings so much life. LOVE IT!!

Lazy Dogs

I'm in the process of getting off of my medication. So, I have some days that I just want to stay in bed and rest. My 'children' have a problem with me being in a cozy bed when they aren't. So a lot of the times they come and snuggle with me. I truly believe that they are one of my healing resources. The other day though, I finally realized just how lazy they were. I actually got out of bed because I felt like they needed the exercise. Ah, to live a dog's life :D

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For the birds

I was sitting at my computer the other day and looked out the window. We have a humming bird feeder hanging there. And to my surprise there was a little humming bird waiting for his breakfast. There was nothing in the feeder and he was just resting. (which is something you don't see everyday) So, of course I jumped up and filled the feeder immediately. Amazing how little creatures can make you feel so sad that you have not taken care of them. So, I also filled the other feeders. Today I would guess there are at least an hundred birds in our side yard. Elphaba (our "bird" dog) sits patiently on the other side of the fence looking through the slats......waiting for her breakfast I'm sure. :)

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Would have been nice to know.....

So, to catch you up on the most recent activities.........We talked to our friends that just did the adoption through the state. We told them what the caseworker had said and they said that sounded about right. As it turns out......our friend works for the state. She decided to tell us that she went through a private agency that usually costs $14,000. AND this agency does not charge state employees. So, as it turns out, it is very normal for adoption to take this long through the state. We thought it had something to do with us.........I'm glad it isn't. It just would have been nice for our friends to tell us the entire sequence of things instead of leading us to believe that it was going to be a short wait. Not that it is their fault.....but, had we known it would have taken this long......we would have been fine with it. We just got our hopes up and planned differently. Looking at it now.....I'm kind of glad that it will take a while. I was actually getting a little overwhelmed trying to get everything done so quickly. It's all good.

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Then again.......Maybe NOT!

So sitting with our caseworker yesterday made it seem like this will be more difficult than we thought. She told us 'realistically' we are looking at 2010 before 'kiddos' could be placed with us. I was under the impression that there were tons of kids out there waiting for homes.....and there are....but the process is 'long and arduous'. I guess, because Dan was adopted and we have 'shady' people in our family......it is a much longer process. They have to look much deeper into our past than they usually do. So, our excitement is not as strong as it was. We are still looking forward to the end product.....but we know that we have a lot of time to prepare. The funny, and actually scary thing is........Our children have not even been taken from their biological parents yet. Is that sad or what? I do hope this process gets easier.....

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The blindspot ends

Today is the day that we will have all of our questions answered. Our caseworker is coming by this afternoon to meet us. It is amazing to me that we have been working on this since January. And even more amazing that by Christmas we will have a family. This is the longest pregnancy ever. Do any of you ever feel that way. I remember one of my friends telling me that they were so excited for their baby to be born so they could come out and play. We really feel like that. We are so excited to meet our new family. We don't even know how big or small it will be. We don't know if it will be all girls all boys or a mixture. This brings new meaning to not finding out what you are having until you are actually giving birth. :)

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Ryder Adelbert Otten

I have a new nephew. He was 9 lbs. I was so happy to be able to hold him. If he had weighed one more pound he would have been beyond my weight limit. It was great to see my sister turn into a mom. It is so amazing to me what instincts women have. And when they kick in. She still needed some assistance in her learning process. Some people were overwhelming her with information, and I think that frustrated her. You HAVE to do this, and you HAVE to do that. I found that all of my sentences began with "I have a friend" or "one of my friends....". She thought that was pretty funny how much information that I had attained from all of my friends. Mostly from book club.....Thank you. We spent four days with her, helping her out and letting her rest. It was nice to be able to sit and hold Ryder. I love holding babies when they are sleeping. It is an amazing relaxation technique. Of course I had to give him up, which was sad. But it was a great baby fix. I'm looking forward to more baby time this year with the arrival of my friend's children.

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