2008 is coming to an end...

2008 is almost over and tonight I've been thinking back over the year. Last year at this time, our goal for 2008 was to move. We did move this year but not back to Indiana like we hoped and that is ok. God has his plan for us and he will guide us to where we are supposed to be. I think some of the ups and downs of the year has really made Andy and I even closer. We have had lots of long discussions about the future and what we see for us as a family. I am so thankful to have Andy in my life. He is an amazing husband, my best friend, and really brings out the best in me.

We have a lot to be thankful for and 2008 was a good year for us. Andy did have several interviews with police departments in Indiana. The interviewing experience will definitely help him in the future and he has learned a lot through the processes even though he didn't get hired. I completed one of the biggest cases in my career and learned alot from the people I was fortunate enough to work with on it. It was a huge challenge but was very rewarding. We both are thankful that our families have been safe and in good health throughout 2008. We both have great jobs that we know that we are lucky to have. We have great friends that we can't imagine our lives without...some are just a little closer in distance to us than others. We have started the foster to adopt process and our excited to see what little one might be headed our way in 2009. We were able to spend some time with family and friends that visited Colorado through out the year...my cousin(Julie), Andy's mom and her husband, my sister(Laura) and her hubby(Phillip), and my cousin(Gretchen) and her family at her daughter's volleyball tournament in Denver. We were very happy that Mike and Matt, Andy's brother, were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Lastly, Laura and Phillip received some exciting news mid-December and have started a new adventure. Phillip was accepted into med school and they moved to St. Maarten's yesterday! They made it there safely and are now in the process of getting things set up there.

Each year we have a tradition with our friend, Mike, of discussing how the next year is going to be and what our hope are for the year. So this year, I'm going to put just a few of our hopes for 2009 on here so that at the end of the year, we are able to look back and see how they turned out.
*We hope our friends and family continue to have good health and prosper this next year.

*We hope that we have a "little one" join our home.

* We hope that we continue to have jobs that make us happy..either here or somewhere closer to our families.

* We hope that we are able to spend more time with family..either here or at their homes.

As Mike says "2009 will be a great year". I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and wish you a wonderful 2009. I think 2009 is going to be a year that is full of promise and hope.

Merry Christmas!

Andy and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We wish safe trip to all those who are traveling to be with their families! I was reading my post from last year and it's interesting that some things have changed and some haven't. We're still in Colorado...which we're ok with this year. We are both lucky to have great jobs, great friends, and good place to live. We have started the foster to adopt process and will hopefully have a little one joining us by maybe Feb or sometime after that. We miss our families but will hopefully be making a trip to see them soon! I believe that we are both very lucky to have such amazing families! Our families have been a great support to us and we really appreciate all they have done for us! I will be posting some Christmas pics soon!

Andy worked last night and works again tonight so he is sleeping right now. We opened presents this morning and will have an early Christmas dinner before he goes to work. We are going to go see Marley & Me on Saturday. I'm so excited to see the movie. The book was great!! We also have some other things planned for the weekend as well as Monday(I'm off work Monday).

Merry Christmas!

Very important message

A lady that I know and her daughter almost died yesterday due to carbon monoxide poisoning. If you do have a carbon mono. detector, please get one. Not too long ago, a couple and their two kids died in Aspen due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Here is what happened yesterday

"If you don't currently have a carbon monoxide detector in your home PLEASE get one. After hearing about the family in Aspen that died husband and I talked about getting one. Being the procrastinators that we are, we didn't do it yet. When our furnace broke yesterday we confirmed that we "definitely need one". Well...that was TOO late.
Yesterday my daugther and I were home alone - like normal. I put her down for a nap and about 45 minutes later I heard her screaming. When I went upstairs to check on her she was still asleep but appeared to be in pain and her eyes were open but rolling back in her head. I thought I needed to call the nurse line because it didn't seem like her at all. By the time I left her room I was feeling VERY ill. I stopped in the bathroom to get sick and woke up on the bathroom floor after I had apparently passed out. I crawled to the bedroom (still not making a connection that my daughter and I were both behaving oddly, as I was clearly already "out of it") and tried dialing my husband at work. It took 3 tries before I got him and I could barely form a coherent sentence. I told him I thought I passed out and asked if he could call me back in 15 minutes to check on me. I also told him our daughter was behaving oddly. He called back in 15 minutes and there was no answer.
My husband immediately left work (also not making a carbon monoxide connection - he thought I just passed out). 5 minutes after leaving he remembered that our neighbors (the girls who babysit our daughter) have a key to our house. He called them and the highschool age girls were home. He asked them to check on us and call him back. When they arrived at the house my daughter and I were both unconscious. They took my daughter out of the house and called 911 from their home.
I didn't come to until they were working on me in the ambulance (very surreal experience). I spent a portion of the night in a hyperbaric chamber and our daughter had to spend it with oxygen on (due to the quick thinking of the girls in removing her immediately from the home she had less exposure than I did). Getting a 2 year old to breathe oxygen from a mask is no picnic.
Anyway, we are both safe now, due to a series of happy miracles - me waking up after originally passing out and being able to call my husband, him thinking to call the girls next door, and them being home (this was the ONLY day this week they would have been home at that time), we are safe and doing pretty well. We are obviously shaken up as it is very clear that with even a little more exposure our daughter and I easily could have been brain damaged or dead. Poor husband had to pull into a cul-de-sac filled with firetrucks and ambulances. He saw them carry his unconscious daughter and wife into an ambulance and understandably is completely freaked out. "

Everything to me

I came across this video on one of the adoption boards that I frequent. It was written by Mark Schultz, who is adopted, and he wrote what he would say to his birthparents if he ever met them. This song is amazing and really hits close to home. I did get the chance to tell my birthfather thank you for making the choice they did before he passed away. I can't imagine how hard the decision to give up a child for adoption would be but I believe it's one of the most selfless acts that one can do. I have amazing parents and can't even imagine what my life would be like with out them.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is only 10 days away!! The weather is definitely feeling Christmasy...snow and cold. Very cold actually...-15 last night. EEKS! We went to the outdoor mall that is very close to our house on Saturday. It was fun to walk down the sidewalks, listening to Christmas songs, see the gleaming Christmas lights, and see the kids ice skating. All we needed was some hot apple cider! Last year at this time I was dreading Christmas. We didn't put up any decorations or a tree since we were in the apartment. It just didn't feel like Christmas or "the happiest time of the year". I remember telling my parents that I didn't know what I'd do if I had to spend another Christmas in Colorado. It's amazing what can change in a year. Don't get me wrong, we still want to move and really wish we could celebrate Christmas with our families. Unfortunately Andy still is too low in seniority to take Christmas off. This year we put up decorations and the tree and it really feels like Christmas. We are also in a much better place with us still being in Colorado...we have good things here and are very thankful for them. Good jobs, good friends, good health, and plans for our future if we should end up staying here.

Last week when I was reading the paper, I saw a picture of our instructor for our foster to adopt classes. First thing I thought was "oh she must be receiving an award"...nope, she was crossing the street and was hit by a car. The driver took off and she later died. I was floored and all I could say was oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Kathy was an amazing woman and very inspirational. She established a family center in an area of Denver that desperately needed it. They had programs for girls to help build self esteem, tutoring programs, foster parent classes, job training, etc. Kathy used to be a caseworker, she taught social work classes at the college level and was a woman who just loved to help others. We were supposed to go to our make up class this past Saturday but they bumped the class back a week due to her funeral being that day. I'm so sad for her family, the community, and all those who never got a chance to learn from her. Her son, Steve, was also one of our instructors...I hope he is able to carry on his mom's teachings.

We have officially switched to a new agency for the foster to adopt program. YEAH! They are amazing. They return calls, return e-mails, and are more than happy to answer questions. We have almost all the paper work ready to be sent in to them. They said our classes should carry over. Hopefully, we'll start the homestudy after the first of the year and have it completed by the end of January. This agency works with all the counties in Colorado which means we'll have way more options. They also have an international adoption program as well a domestic adoption program. If at some point we decide to switch to domestic adoption, we won't have to redo everything. YEAH! We are so excited and so ready to start the foster to adopt journey. We have picked out the convertible crib, car seat, and even found a possible child care center. We are going to start working on turning the guest room into the baby room. We really never thought we'd get to the point where we'd be buying a crib or getting a room ready for a baby. Andy is even excited to go to Babies R US!!

We had some exciting news from my sister and her husband. Phillip got into med school and they are moving to St. Maarten's. Yes, St. Maarten's..island located below Puerto Rico and it's very warm there! They are moving in two weeks and have a lot to do before then. We are excited that this journey is beginning for them. It will have it's ups and downs but it an experience that they will never forget. I'm sure it's going to be hard being a warm tropical place while the rest of us are in the cold, snowy regions. I think we'll be planning a trip there in the near future..of course some of that depends on when/if we get a placement but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Congrats Phillip! Best wishes to Laura and Phillip on a safe and speedy move!

Catching up...

Wow, it has been awhile since I last posted. Not alot has been going on since the last post. We are settling into the house and really enjoyng all the room we now have! I have been sick off and on for the past few weeks. Everytime I think the cold has gone away, it comes back...YUK!

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Sunday as Andy had to work on Thanksgiving Day. Our friend, Mike, and Andy's brother, Matt, came over. It was great having them over and having our turkey day celebration with our "Colorado" family. We talked alot about our plans to hopefully move as Mike is also hoping to move to Indiana or the surrounding states. Mike is in the same boat as me..moved here for a great job opportunity but is now wanting to be back in Indiana closer to his family. We always have fun telling Andy how people in Indiana are just different that they are here in Colorado. I'm not saying people in Colorado are bad or anything like that but people just live life "faster" here than they do back in Indiana or at least the parts that both Mike and I grew up in. =)

We have some decisions we need to make about doing the foster to adopt program. Since we started working with this county, we've had horrible luck at getting information, return phone calls, and even the right dates for trainings. We need to decide if we're going to stick it out or just start looking into private agencies that do domestic adoptions. A huge issue is the cost throught the private agencies but we'll make it work. I'm going to start calling a few agencies and try to find one that has locations here as well as in the Midwest. Hopefully, we'll figure something out soon!!! I really feel like we've taken several steps backwards but I'm trying to stay positive that the path we are supposed to take will appear soon.