Mini Vacation Top 10 and Nesting

While Chris and I are still two and not yet three, we decided to spend a long (not long enough!) weekend in Atlanta. It was great on so many levels. Here were the top 10 high points of our mini-vacay.

1. Chris and I traveled together. We both travel for work quite a bit, but the only trip we've really ever taken just as a couple was our honeymoon (!). Since we've been married, Chris has gone to Brazil, Texas, and Orlando, and I've been to Miami, Chicago, and New York, but never together. All of our vacations have been with Chris' family.

2. Atlanta is home to our nearest Ikea. I have kind of a love/hate relationship with this place. I love the modern, funky style of all the decor and furnishings, and I REALLY love the prices, but it's so overwhelming to me. There is so much to look at and decide upon, and it renders me unable to make the smallest of decisions. ("Do I need that plastic bag holder because it's only $2.99? I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!")

3. I (mostly) grew up in Atlanta, so Chris got to see where we lived for the first time. The area has changed so much that I could barely find our houses. I didn't recognize much of anything! It was very strange. But it was great to share this experience with him.

4. Chris' brother, Nick, his wife, Jessica, and our niece Lucy live in the ATL, so we got to visit with them …

5. AND eat dinner at my favorite pizza place, Fellini’s! I hadn’t been there in about eight years, so I was worried it wouldn’t live up to my memory. No worries, though, it was just as good as I remembered.

6. We stayed in a great hotel and met Ibrahim, the front desk worker, who was awesome. He was born in the south of France (Toulouse), his mom is from West Africa, and his last girlfriend was Ethiopian. We really enjoyed meeting him.

7. We didn’t get into a car accident.

8. Chris was very excited that we got to eat dinner at this Tex-Mex place called Pappasito’s Cantina. Apparently it’s the only location outside of Texas, so it’s pretty authentic.

9. A day off of work for me! Chris is off on Fridays anyway, but it was a real treat for me.

10. Chris and I got to stop and see Nannie and Papa John on our way home.

I’ve lost count of how long we’ve been on the waiting list now, although I think we’re nearing seven months. Surely we must be close to getting our referral. There have been a few referrals lately, but mostly for girls. According to the unofficial list, there are three families ahead of us: two asking for either gender 0-12 months, and one family asking for a boy 0-12 months. Please pray for lots of referrals and soon!

In the midst of our wait, I’ve been feeling very “nest-y” lately. I’m driving Chris crazy with wanting to repaint and redecorate the house. We’ve only lived in our house for a little over a year and a half, so Chris isn’t too keen on the idea. Now that it’s warming up here in Nashville, I’m also thinking about getting out in the yard to do some work. I’d love to plant some flowers in our front bed, but I have no green thumb whatsoever. Hopefully the nice folks at Lowe’s can help a girl out.

I’m really, really hoping I’ll have exciting news to share soon! Well, more exciting than Ikea, Fellini’s, and yard work.

Show and Tell, Part 1

Thanks for all your sweet comments via the blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. We appreciate it more than you know. Now onto the fun stuff!

It's been so fun to shop for what little baby stuff we can without knowing an age or size. I can't wait to go crazy when we get our referral! But here's a sample of some of our favorite things so far.



Chris' parents were really generous to buy our baby furniture. Chris and I bought the mobile forever ago, long before we ever talked about having kids. We both graduated from the University of Tennessee, and the mobile is little baby Smokeys. We haven't decided if we're going to have a UT theme, but we've got a head start if we do!



During the holidays we were visiting Chris' parents and we saw this.



This is one of my favorites! I should have gotten it in a few sizes. :)

That's all for now. More to come!

Week ... Oh, Whatever

If you sense a little impatience in this blog title, you are correct. We're entering our seventh month of waiting for our referral and our eleventh month in the adoption process. I was sure we were going to receive our referral this month — there were just so many in January. It's difficult to see things slowing a bit again. It's not easy to stay positive all the time, so I'm choosing to employ lots of distractions. Thanks to everyone who has let Chris and me hug on your kids in recent weeks! It really helps. Chris and I have also been trying to take advantage of our time left without kids with stuff like sleeping in and going out to brunch on Saturdays. We've also been working to prepare the dog for the baby's impending arrival, i.e. teaching him better manners.

Because we have no news to share, I'm having a difficult time figuring out stuff to blog about. I may post some old pics from my trip to South Africa in 2002 (I CANNOT believe it's been that long!) or start photographing some of the baby stuff we do have for a little show-and-tell. We'll see.

The good news: We're another day closer to our referral and seeing our baby for the first time. We're anxiously awaiting that day and can't wait to share it with you!

Two, Two, Two, Two Posts in One!

...day, that is. We had our last family photo without Baby H taken in October. I'm just now posting it because we were trying to keep it a secret from our families until Christmas. Then, I just got busy. :) So, enjoy this now four-months-old picture of us.

Show Your Adoption Support!

I'm a little belated in posting this, but my friend/fellow church member/fellow adoptee Amy has made some cool new wall/car decals to raise money for her adoption. Here are the details from her blog:

"Hey everyone! I am making available these vinyl car and wall decals. They apply easily to your vehicle or wall and look GREAT! I have both the China and the Ethiopia on the back of my van. People are already noticing. What an easy way to open a dialogue about adoption. Great conversation starters! I can do other countries as the need arises. They will be the same price. I can also do them larger or you would like to have a larger one for your wall.

These will stay on forever, but are EASILY removed should you decide you would like to remove it. They are not reusable though. They are like Uppercase Living products, if you are familiar with them.

If you are interested in one, and you want to use paypal, just click on the "Add to Cart" button at the right, after you choose the one you want. Shipping is $2.00, but if you want more than one, email me at and I will adjust the pricing for the shipping of multiple decals! Or, if you just have a question about the decals, let me know.

Thanks for looking and thanks for ordering!"

They are $10 each plus shipping. For more info, visit Amy's blog at amyrhood.blogspot.com.

No Blogging = No News

I can't believe it, but it's been 20 WEEKS since we were put on the wait list. When we first started the process back in April, I never dreamed we would still be waiting for our referral. At the time, five months was pretty much the max that anyone was waiting. But Chris and I have needed this time to get prepared. If we were to get the call tomorrow, I might panic! We have so much to do! I'm thankful for God's perfect timing. That's not to say that I don't have moments when I wish I could see our son's face, find out how old he is, learn his name, hear his story. Christmas was a little difficult at times. But, in exciting news, we've seen several boys get referred in the past couple weeks! Two today, in fact. Things are moving. Thanks for all your prayers! Hopefully we'll have more to share soon.

Nintendo Wii