Saturday, June 26, 2010

Attic Finale

Earlier this week I found some time to photograph the attic now that it's complete.  Complete meaning painting, staining and carpeting is finished.  We haven't begun looking for furniture to fill that space, but it will happen soon enough.

In order to make photographing tha attic a little more fun, I brough along the two oh-so-cute bunnies I got from the wonderful Sleepyking via Etsy.  You should definitely check it out.

Well, on to the photos.


Hope you enjoyed both the attic and the bunnies.  Hopefully soon we can start searching Craigslist for basic furniture.  It's hard to know whether we're getting ahead of ourselves or not.  I want to be prepared but I also do not want to be setting myself up for heartache.  Although, our Dossier should be heading to the Congo farely soon.  But more about that when I actually know something myself :)

Tomorrow we have our adoption support group picnic, our block party and a wedding reception on Sunday.  It should be a fun and eventful weekend.  I hope yours is filled with great weather and fun!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Saturday Morning Fun

I know it's not Saturday morning, but I brought our camera to the farmer's market with me when we all went this past weekend.  There aren't many photos since it's somewhat difficult to carry a large camera, purse, grocery bag and purchase groceries all at the same time.  And the photos aren't incredible quality but just blame it on my inexperience.  I have to learn somehow :)


It was such a lovely morning.  And as always, we hit up Marie Catrib's for breakfast.  If you haven't been there, it's define and I highly, highly recommend it.  Just be warned that it is very popular and there is usually a wait.

I just took some photos of the attic and will post them within the next day or two.  As far as the adoption goes, we're still waiting.  It has been about ten days since I sent our Dossier to our agent.  She said that it takes about two weeks to review it.  Later this week I am going to email her about it and hopefully I will have some sort of update on that front.

Hope everyone was able to wake up on time this morning.  I did, but was pretty sleepy because of our little adventure in the basement during the storm.  If it wasn't for Katy (cousin, friend, neighbor below), I don't think I would have even gotten out of bed.  I can't imagine what it would have been like with TWO kids.  Man oh man, something to start thinking about....maybe a bunker should be Eric's next home project :)

Friday, June 18, 2010

Summertime's Filling Up

It's crazy how long we wait for summer and then it gets so full that it passes us by in an instant.  Eric and I are pros at filling up our time.  And then when we have nothing scheduled it's weird and we try to quick plan something.  Obviously this is going to be a trait that requires some changing once the kiddos arrive.  But for now we will enjoy our madness.

Starting today, our friends Scott and Kate will be staying with us while they're in town.  The attic got done just in time for them (I will post pictures as soon as Eric remembers to bring the camera home from work).  They have been in town since last weekend but stayed with family for a while.

We are hoping to all go see Toy Story 3 tonight.  Brook, Aaron, Katy and Patrick are confirmed and we just hope that Scott and Kate can find someone to babysit Emery so they can come too.  Eric is super geeked about seeing it.  I bet he is worse than most small children.  But I can't lie, many times I am much worse than Eric.  Chidrens movies are pretty much my favorite kind.  I can't talk highly enough about How To Train Your Dragon, pretty much the best movie all year.




And tomorrow morning I get to spend even more time with the lovely ladies listed above when we go to the farmer's market and hopefully nab some delicious breakfast.  My favorite part of the Saturday morning tradition, aside from the incredible market and great food, is the ability to walk everywhere!  Definitely looking forward to tomorrow and I don't even mind getting up early on a Saturday to do it :)

Other than those two things, we have Father's Day/Eric's birthday dinner with my family and Eric's third attempt at fixing our truck.  Then starting next weekend I feel that we may not have time to breathe.  Between weddings, picnics, family functions and family visiting from afar, we're pretty booked.  But that is something I just love about summer, being able to do so much.  Because we can!  It's so warm and stays light so long!  The only downside could be the lack of beach visits because of our busy schedule, but good thing neither of us are beach bums.

Well, that's all I have.  No news on the adoption front.  I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  I am looking forward to spending it in the new dresses I procured :)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!

Today is the day that my wonderful husband was born.  He will be spending the entire day working on a film shoot.  But don't feel bad, this is the best birthday gift he could get.  He just loves work that much.


He is now a whopping age of 28 years, though you would really never guess.  Oh...this makes me think of a funny story.  A few years ago, we went to Seth's (Eric's little brother) swim meet and while in line to enter, Eric was asked when he was swimming.  This was a high school competition and he was about 25 then.  He now has perpetual facial hair, which helps.


Actually, for his industry he is very young.  Many of the people he hires for projects are older than him.  This is just one piece of evidence of how amazing he is at his work.  Really, he does an awesome job and having a successful, growing business at 28 is impressive.


So happy birthday babe!  Thanks for being great and providing for our little, soon to grow family.  And for being so sexy ;)






Wednesday, June 9, 2010

One Step Closer

Just this afternoon, I sent our Dossier and second payment to our agency! I was really excited to get this sent since we received our government approval last week.

And you know, writing that ever-so large check didn't even hurt. I am starting to anticipate finding out who our kids are. Thus far I have remained very level-headed and will continue except for that little spark now. According to our plans, this is the point when we will start looking for our referral. This means, we start looking for our kids!

No matter how exciting this news is, I have to remain collected. I have no idea how long it will take to find our children and must be prepared for a long wait. If it's not very long then I will be overjoyed but heartache is avoided at all costs.

In order to keep my mind busy, we are going to be spending a lot of time with our family and friends who are coming into town this weekend. Eric's sister, Hannah, is coming in from Cali. We are going to spend oodles of time with her since she's only here for a few days. And then our friends from Tennessee arrive. They will be here for about two weeks and will be staying with us for part of their trip.

Speaking of which, we are getting carpet in the attic on Friday! I will post pictures since it's pretty much finished, less outlet covers and light fixtures. Either way, progress is being made!

Well, there isn't much else to report. Looking forward to spending time with everyone and celebrating Lisa's (Eric's other sister) openhouse. If/when something is known about our kids, don't worry, I'll update right away :)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Woohoo! It's here!

Yesterday I received our approval from immigration. I'll be honest, I was getting a little worried since it had been over two weeks since it's arrival at it's Dallas destination. But I can breathe easy now...OH WAIT, I can't. I now have to gather all of our Dossier paperwork, check a LARGE check and mail it all off to our agency.

I will hurriedly do this and then wait, again. Our agent said it should take about two weeks for our Dossier to be reviewed. If everything is filled our properly, it will begin it's long trip to the Congo.

Once it takes off, that is the point when we will start searching for our kiddos! Thus far, I have been very calm and collected. Even when I got the approval, I calmly called Eric and gather the necessary paperwork, making sure I had copies of everything. But now, now that I may find out the identities of my two little ones, I am started to get anxious.

My ultimate dream is to told them; feel them in my arms. But for now, I would be ecstatic if I could know who they are, see their faces and actually call them my own, to even give them names. Man, it's a mix of excitement and love all at once. I want to shout and cry at the same time.

Though I must be patient. Even though we are told it shouldn't take very long, we know that these time lines aren't very reliable and we should expect the worst and be wonderfully surprised if it's not.

But please pray for us; pray for our children. We need patient and grace to get through the waiting time, we need to truly trust that God's timing is perfect and we need prayer that our children (whoever they are) will be healthy and protected. Although we can barely wait to know, we are content in the place God has us, looking forward to our children who will come home soon :)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Four Years & Counting


Four years ago I married the ever-so-sexy Eric Johnson.


Most of the time, when I see photos from our wedding I think, “man, I was so young.”  And then I realize, man I am STILL so young.  But I wouldn’t change a single detail of our life throughout the past four years or the choice to marry when we did.



If you asked us, we’d probably have different answers about how fast the last four years have gone.  Currently, he thinks it has been under four years whereas I feel that it’s been a lot longer.  It just depends on how you see it.  We’ve been so busy and done so much that time has gone quickly and it doesn’t seem like four years or you can say that we’ve done so much that it seems like we should have been married longer to accomplish it all.  Whether short or long, we actually have accomplished a lot and it has been an awesome four years.



We aren’t perfect.  We have our fights.  But Eric still makes me laugh, makes me cry (in good ways), is thoughtful, romantic, creative, strong, brave and causes me to be and do things that I never thought I could be or do.  He brings out the best in me.  He challenges me to be a better person.  He calls me out on things when I am being selfish or just a baby.  We better each other, despite the fact that we sometimes annoy each other.



Over the past four years we have done so much.  We had good times, bad times, easy times, and frustrating times just like anyone else.  Each day, we choose to love in spite of how we are currently feeling or the mood we are in.  We want to love each other more fully each day and to grow in love continually.  To show our children what love is.  Not only within the family but what love towards others looks like.




I am excited to see Eric as a dad.  He has his doubts and fears, but I know he is going to be incredible.  I don’t know if a man will love his children more.  We do not know when our children are coming home or even who they are and still his love for them is growing.  Even now he is protective of them, concerned about how they will grow up in a multi-racial family and emphasizing the love and support we have to provide for them.  This makes waiting in the unknown so much more difficult.



Even just this past year has been such a whirlwind.  I am curious what will be written next year and how our family dynamic is going to change will these kiddos joining the fun.  Being married to Eric is the best thing that ever happened to me and I am looking forward to the change our lives will make becoming a parent with him.



I am so thankful for the man God has given me.  I am completely undeserving of all his love and understanding.  Through his words and actions, he daily reminds me of his love for me and I can only hope to show him that same love each day.  To my love, you are my world and I am thankful for that day you asked me to be your wife and for the day we chose to live our lived together as one., four years ago.