Four Months!

Well, that's another month in the books, friends!  We have been crazy busy.  In the last month we've taken a trip to Boston, watched LOTS of Texas Rangers baseball (both at the ballpark and on t.v.), had fun with friends at our respective Guys and Girls Nights Out and coordinated / participated in our Faith in Action service project.  On the work front, I also finished up our United Way fundraising campaign, worked on / participated in an  over-the-top team building day and voluteered on Global Volunteer Day at a senior center fall festival.  We also had a visit from my baby sister, which was tons of fun.

And speaking of family, meet my parents, Lolli and Poppi:

They are quite excited to celebrate with us another month on the Wait List.  Mom told me the other day that she is starting to dream about grandbabies.  How sweet is that?  Here's the answer: So Sweet!  I can't wait for them to be grandparents.  They're gonna rock.  I hate that we live so far away (we're in TX, they're in TN), but we're all going to have to make concerted efforts to see each other more than once or twice a year.  I grew up seeing my grandparents pretty often, and that's super important to me.  Maybe one day we'll move closer to home.  We have no plans to do that now, but who know what the future holds?  All I know is that the average wait for a referral is 8 months, so we're about half way there!!  How great is that?!

While We Wait: A New Hobby, Part II

I mentioned in a previous post that I had been working on some aprons for a Cake Decorating Team Building event at work.  Well, I'm happy to report that 1) the aprons turned out great; 2) the Team Building event was loads of fun; and 3) our team WON Best Apron Design!  So, without further ado, I present to you our team, "The Frosters," and the winners of the Best Apron Design....

The aprons were just your standard issue, white aprons to begin with.  I cut off the straps that went around the neck and waist.  I then cut about 6 inches off the bottom of the apons, so they would be shorter and more flirty.  I made new straps for the neck, and much longer straps for the waist that came around and tied on the side.  I made ruffles and sewed them around the bottom and sides; added a pocket to the front; and added the initial to the front, which was a dyeable iron-on.  In all, I spent over 15 hours working on this project, but it was so worth it, not only because we won, but because I had never tried to do anything nearly as complicated as this, and it turned out to be not very difficult.  

Oh yeah, in our pockets, we had little cards with our team name on it.  Just your basic scrapbook paper and stickers:

Overall, we had a great day and it was so fun to see how different the cakes turned out.  Here are our cakes:

This was our "Rule" cake (i.e., it had to follow certian rules)

And this was our "freestyle" cake.  Totally nasty.

Here are the other teams' cakes...

Don't Mess With Texas and a Butterfly

Texas Rangers Baseball inspired cakes

The Queens of Cake cakes

I'm blessed to work with such a great group of people.  We've all worked together for so long, it's like we're family, which has it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I Love My Hair

OK, so maybe I don't really love my hair all of the time, but I DO love this...

While We Wait: A Crazy Dream

Last night I had a crazy (and pretty funny) dream....

I dreamt that Sara called with our referral.  Without Rob, I talked to Sara all about the childREN who had been referred to us.  First, there was a "4 month old" girl, but she had a sibling who was being referred to us too.  Sara showed me a VIDEO (no, this doesn't happen in real life) of the kids, and I was confused because the 4 month old, was CLEARLY 4 YEARS old because she was talking and walking and NOT a baby!  I said to Sara, "She CAN'T be 4 months old, she's 4 YEARS old!"  But Sara stuck to the Gladney line and said, "We have to go by what the birth family says.  If they say she's 4 months old, we have to go with that." 

The other thing that was funny was that the kids had the same disease Michael Jackson had, and they were losing the pigmentation of their skin.  I don't think I said it out loud, but I thought to myself, "I don't want to adopt WHITE babies from Ethiopia!  I want babies with beautiful brown skin!"  OK, really, how funny is that?!

So, as you might expect, because the referral didn't match ANY of our requests, we did not accept it.  I vaguely recall that the end of my dream was Sara calling the very next day with a referral, but I don't remember any of the details. 

Since this is my first adoption related dream, I thought I'd record it for posterity.  Also, it was so funny, I thought you all might get a kick out of it!

Happy Monday!!

While We Wait: A New Hobby

For the last several years I've been trying out some very small sewing projects - mostly curtains and pillows.  Some projects were successful, others not so much, but my sewing skills are beginning to improve.

A few months ago my friend mentioned that she made baby blankets from time to time.  Once she showed me one of her masterpieces and explained how she did it, I was inspired and thought, I can do that too!  Since a couple of the families in our Life Group at church have recently had babies, I had the perfect opportunity to put my inspiration to work.

Here are the 2 baby blankets I've made:

This one was for baby Gracie. 

This side is flannel and the reverse is super soft (not sure what the fabric is called!)

I love ribbon, so adding the taggies makes my day!

This one was for baby Cy.  Also made of flannel and super soft fabric.

Baby Cy's mama is a firefighter (how cool is that?!),

so the dalmatians are a nod to his firefighter themed bedroom.

These projects have really gotten my creative juices flowing and have totally energized me!  I LOVE shopping for the fabric and ribbon, and then putting it all together for a new little baby. 

And yes, there are more sewing projects on the way.  We have a team building event coming up at work in a couple of weeks and we've all been given white aprons to decorate.  I've volunteered to decorate our team's aprons, which will involve LOTS of sewing.  I hope I haven't gotten in over my head, but I'm REALLY looking forward to it!  I'm planning on working on the aprons Saturday and will post pictures after the event.  After all, part of what we're being judged on are our aprons, and I wouldn't want the other teams to have any advantage!

Happy Thursday!