A surprise hello from Jacksonville

Well, I certainly wasn't planning on blogging from the road. However, about twenty minutes before we left for Jacksonville yesterday afternoon, my boss at Mayo asked if I could bring my computer. As I mentioned, he has a grant due next week which always adds an extra layer of stress to his life (and subsequently mine). So, I brought JB's laptop (aka "the green machine" -- if you see this thing you'd know why), not sure if we would have wireless access in the hotel. We do, and so, while I wait for him to send me a version of the grant to edit and JB is watching Man vs. Wild (He's in the Florida Everglades), I thought I'd throw together a bit of a blog. Since I don't have access to my computer, there won't be pictures. But hopefully, my words will suffice.

We left yesterday around 2pm. JB is on neurology which is basically half-days so getting off at this time wasn't too hard. Our first stop: Crestview with our little Scrubby. They have a nice set-up there for him. They take each of the dogs out five times a day and once a day do a training session with him. I think he'll have a good time. We hope that within a year or two, Scrubs will be able to stay home by himself and someone like my friend Heather (who I watch her two six year old labs while she goes out of town) could just stop by the house periodically. But right now, he's still too young and too prone for getting into trouble and too much work to leave with just anybody. (Jodi is a saint!)

Next stop: Jacksonville. JB drove about the first 1.5 hours while I took a short nap. We then stopped for gas, and I drove the next 3 hours or so to Jacksonville. We saw Mayo Clinic Jacksonville which was a bit surreal. Here are all the same Mayo Clinic signs and logos but with palm trees surrounding them instead of snow. Weird! We also found our hotel (which we picked due to their $60 discount for military personnel) and decided to just walk across the street to a TGI Fridays for dinner instead of getting back in the car.

The highlight for dinner was meeting a family sitting next to us from Nigeria. Other than that, we were unimpressed with our Valentine's Day celebration. I usually give every waiter or waitress the benefit of the doubt, but I had a hard time doing so here. The service was horrible and the food not that much better. Not very impressed at all. But it was nice to have dinner together and just relax so we took it in stride.

We slept in this morning -- which for us is like, 7am! Then we headed to the Department of Homeland Security office to get our fingerprints. I was worried about how difficult this process who be, but it was simple!!!! The whole thing took less than an hour, they did the fingerprinting with a new "clean" system (so no black everywhere), and we were on our way in no time. It was great! We met another family adopting from China. They are doing special needs and will therefore be travelling as early as this summer. I asked JB is he wanted to reconsider special needs, but we decided again that we thought we'd like a little practice being parents before we added extra dimensions. And besides, it would take a lot of home study editing to make that change. So we'd just take the wait as it comes.

The one thing I had realized though by this point, was that we were in a different part of the country -- much more Fort Lauderdale-like in attitude and atmosphere. Suddenly, every other person I met was making a comment about how tall I was again. Folks, I can't help it. This is just so annoying to me. I realized that the comments from strangers are unique to the part of the country. In a "southern" town like the Destin area, folks are too polite to make comments. In Minnesota, there are a ton of tall people so no one makes comments. But suddenly, I return to a big city town and the comments start flying.

Now you may think I am exaggerating but let me say that between the time we arrived last night and me sitting down at this computer 24 hours later, at least five people stopped me to comment on my height. I just confirmed this with JB to make sure I was not exaggerating. They weren't extremely rude comments -- just things like, "Oh gosh, you are tall" or something of the like. My brother and I always get into a debate about this because he doesn't think these comments are rude. I don't necessarily think they are rude, but I just get tired of them. I know I am tall. Really. I really do.

Anyways, that was a tangent. Back to our Friday adventure. We spent the day touring St. Augustine. This is actually the oldest city in the entire U.S. It was very quaint and educational, and we took quite a few pictures. It's about thirty minutes south of Jacksonville. So I'll try to post those tomorrow. We had lunch at a Tapas bar which I have never been to before. It was very good and so filling that after a nap back at our hotel, we opted for a light dinner (fruit and a light sandwich for me and sushi for JB from Publix) for dinner.

We also made a stop at Super Target to check something on our registry and look at some bookshelves. While there, we ran into Gita! Now this requires a bit of an explanation so let me see if I can do it briefly.

While at WKU, JB had a guy named Ben S. that was in most of his classes with him and was a year behind him. They became pretty good friends. When JB got into medical school, he encouraged Ben to apply at Mayo. Ben was not planning on it. He was a Kentucky boy born and raised and had already earned a full scholarship offer from UK. But he decided to go ahead and pay the extra $30 bucks or whatever it is and add Mayo to his application list. To make a long story short, Ben got into Mayo and turned down the scholarship to come to Mayo! And, he met Gita, in his class, who he is now engaged to.

Needless to say, we were a bit shocked to see Gita in a Super Target in Jacksonville. For a minute, we got confused as to where we were. Suddenly I thought: am I in Minnesota? But no, she and Ben are at Mayo Jacksonville for an away-rotation. Ben wasn't with her but was supposed to get off at 8:30. So after a long talk in the towel aisle with Gita, we gave her our cell phone number and she said she'd pass it off to Ben when he got off his rotation at 8:30. We are hoping we might be able to at least chat with him if not connect for a coke or something! It'd be great to see Ben -- a taste of two of our homes: Kentucky and Minnesota.

Tomorrow morning we are going to get together with Nicole and Bay. Nicole's flight doesn't get in until 10:30 tonight and because we have to leave by noon in order to pick up Scrubs by the last pick-up time of the day, Nicole has agreed to meet us at 8am tomorrow morning -- a huge move for Nicole who is not a morning person. I can't wait to see them!!!

I'll post again tomorrow from back in Eglin.

How to tell if your feet stink.

Is there such a thing as too much chocolate?

Tomorrow is Phil D's (Joia' husband) and my Oom Ed's birthday. Since I won't be here tomorrow to put up a blog, I thought I would say a quick happy birthday now. So, happy birthday.

Last night, JB and I were in charge of bringing dessert to our Care Group. I brought my triple chocolate chunk brownies and asked JB to pick up some stuff to make brownie sundaes. John picked up a bag of M&M's, Reeses Pieces, moose tracks ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and two different kinds of topping: chocolate and caramel.

I also learned some important things last night:

• First of all, I found someone else who appreciates chocolate as much as Joia and I do. Shannon!!!! Shannon loves chocolate as much as we do Joia. Isn't it great to know we aren't alone with our problem?
• Secondly, I actually made a brownie sundae that was just too much chocolate for even me. A brownie with moose tracks, chocolate fudge, and the reeses pieces to boot left me struggling with the last few bites. Shannon joined JB in the ranks of, "What does 'too rich' mean exactly?" They would hear nothing of it.

After Care Group, I also learned something else. Okay, I didn't learn it, but it was emphasized.

My dog is a stinker.

Let me paint the scene.

As soon as we get home after being gone awhile, we let Scrubs out of his kennel and he and I run outside together. The reason is two-fold. One is, Scrubs can be a happy-pee-er. The other is, he won't follow JB outside. He will only follow me outside.

We never leash him for this activity. He is so excited to see us, he usually won't get into mischief. Instead we have to convince him to finish his peeing. Normally he pees for a second and then runs up to me, wanting to play. I tell him to finish. He goes back, pees a bit more, and then runs back up to me. This goes on until I feel he has successfully emptied his bladder.

Last night, the little guy decided to track down that piece of cardboard I had thrown into the empty flowerbed last week. He grabbed it and began running laps around the house. I tried everything to entice him back in the house. "Where's John?" "Wanna treat?" etc. Each time, he would run up to the front of the porch, cock his head, look at me, and then tell me with his eyes that my offer was just not worth it while he lapped the house again.

JB finally told me to ask him if he, "Wanted to play?" Of course! So I yelled that out the side door. Low and behold, Scrubs immediately jogs up to the porch again and cocks his head. I repeated the request. "Do you want to play?" This means that I will turn on the flashlight in the hallway while he chases it and throws himself into the front door and the guest room over and over again. I have no idea why this is fun, but to Scrubs, this is truly the only reason he currently exists. He wants to do it all day everyday. That and tug on his rings. It's his love language. For sure.

Anyways, he runs up, cocks his head, waits for me to repeat the request and then proceeds to come into the house. On the way, I asked him to leave the cardboard. He promptly drops the item he wasn't supposed to have and comes trotting into the house, right into the hallway, and sits, waiting for me to play with him. A perfect angel!

That stinker knew EXACTLY what I wanted him to do the ENTIRE time. How stubborn can you be?! STINKER! Is he related to JB. Okay, I'm just kidding. Seriously JB. Just kidding. Really.

When he (Scrubs not John) finally settled down, we gave him a little rawhide to chew on while we watched the episode of American Idol we had taped. We wanted to see who the final 24 were. Can you believe we stayed up until 11:00 watching this. Yes, it's true. JB and I stayed up past 9:30pm on a weeknight.

Rawhides make Scrubs very thirsty so midway through chewing, we watched as he started pacing around the living room with his rawhide in his mouth. We figured out later that he was thirsty and wanted to get a drink but didn't want us to take his rawhide while he went to get water. We only let him chew on it for a few minutes so he was worry that his need for water would end his chewing session. Poor guy.

Anyways, he downed the water. That meant that this morning, when the alarm went off, Scrubs went dashing out of our room and immediately began ringing his bell over and over and over again. Needless to say he had to go to the bathroom badddd so there was no lounging around this morning.

Okay, enough dog. We are, in fact leaving for Jacksonville around 3pm today. We'll stop in Crestview to drop Scrubby off at RPO Kennels and then head out. It should be a productive Valentine's weekend. We'll get fingerprinted, let Scrubs bug someone else, spend time together, and get to see Bay and Nicole.

Look for a post (with photos!) on Saturday!

Prayer Request

I am making a special prayer request for the daughter of my friend Beth in Minnesota. Sarah is three. She had a fall, and as a result of the fall, had a CT-scan that has revealed a small mass in her brain. The mass is not related to the fall and would not have been discovered had Sarah not fallen.

There is a very probable chance that this mass is nothing to worry about. This is what we are asking you to pray for! We are praying that the results of the MRI next week reveal that little Sarah is perfectly fine -- that she just has an extra little piece of mass in her brain (probably just brain cells filled with extra intelligence!)

Would you all add little Sarah to your prayer list? Their family are Christians who believe in the power of prayer. My friend Beth is, understandably, a bit shaken but very strong and praying for a good report! Please join their entire family in that prayer!

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid!

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Only 12 degrees colder here

In "feels like" temperature, it is only 12 degrees colder in Minnesota today.

We are at feels like 29 degrees! It is feels like 17 there! STOP THE INSANITY!

Okay, truthfully, no complaining is allowed since it is supposed to get into the sixties tomorrow and the seventies the day after.

Another true fact. Whenever I bring up the weather it is usually because there really isn't much else to talk about.

Here are a few other bullets to help emphasize the normalness of my life currently.

• I have been watching very little TV. The only two shows I am currently participating in are Survivor and American Idol. I have taped Prison Break since it is on the same night as Scrubs' dog class, but I am doubting whether I will get a chance to catch up. I've only seen a few episodes of American Idol and Survivor is only in week 2.
• Scrubs likes jeans. I've decided that these jeans (and Rachel's black workout pants) are a major contributor to his "frolicking" problem. Funny frolicking story. I was at the dog park in Fort Lauderdale with my sister-in-law when I noticed Scrubs, way across the field, attempting to frolic with a lady in jeans. I took off, intent on stopping the totally inappropriate behavior. When I got there, I grabbed Scrubs and apologized repeatedly. "He won't do that for weeks," I said, "And then all of a sudden he'll just get in a mood and do it everyday." The little old man walking with the woman turned to me and said (I kid you not) "Honey, don't you worry. I'm the same way." I think I blushed.
• Speaking of Rachel. I got a call from her yesterday. She was able to get my employment letters authenticated in Minnesota. How cool is that? And how awesome is Rachel. I canNOT wait for Rachel's wedding (okay Hans, it's your wedding too) in June!
• Attended wives ("wifia" lunch today.) There were only four of us: Tiffany (with William), Joia (with Keenan), and Sarah (with Della) and me (with myself). Tiffany made some great enchiladas and Joia successfully wowed me with her dessert . . . again! I also say, "I won't eat dessert . . ." until I see what Joia brought. It's heaven!
• JB sent me an overview for his "wilderness medicine" game plan. This included a 27 day "class" in Tennessee. I'm not so sure about this one. Twenty-seven days solo? Check that. Twenty-seven days solo with a son and a dog? We'll need to chat about this more when he gets home today.
• We leave tomorrow for Jacksonville. So my blog will be a little quiet on Friday until we return on Saturday. Don't worry Tara. I'll take pictures. Geeesh!
• Spellcheck is not working on my blog so I apologize now for any errors. Is anyone else having trouble with spellcheck? I'm lost without it.

Car title saga, adoption, and other details of life

Car Tags

Believe it or not, we are STILL waiting to get our Florida car tags. This saga has become almost humorous to us. A quick refresher: we lost our title when we moved. Okay so after weeks of trying to figure out what it was we had to do to get a new title, we finally tracked everything down to a county in Kentucky that had a record of our vehicle. They send us a new title! Success, right? Wrong. For some reason, a bank in Kentucky was listed on the title which said we owed money on the car. Not true, but we had to prove this. We did prove it and were told to send in new paperwork. JB called them. Do we just need to fill out the form and send in the money? Yes. No need for notarization? No. So we did it. Yesterday, it was returned to us. We didn't get it notarized! Right, because you all told us we didn't need to get it notarized. This has been so frustrating. We are driving with expired tags again! Ugh! JB is working to get the paperwork notarized today, and we'll try to send it in. Again!

May Baby update

Many of you have asked me what the latest is on our "May baby" adoption. I spoke with Joan on Saturday and wanted to provide a short update. Bri and Chris met with our lawyer. The lawyer is actually a friend of Roy & Joan's in Fort Lauderdale, however, JB and I are actually the ones that hire him. He met with Bri and Chris as one of the first steps in the adoption -- to hear it out of the mouths of the people who have to sign the paperwork. Chris and Bri signed some preliminary paperwork. After that, there really isn't much to do until the baby joins us as he has to be alive and present before the adoption can occur. What we do know is that it appears little XY will leave the hospital with me and JB. Preliminary paperwork will be done in Fort Lauderdale with the adoption technically "finalized" when he is three months old up here in Destin. Many people worry about these details, but quite honestly, the people who are worried the least are the two families involved. We all have total peace about this journey and are confident that this little guy will be joining our family in less than three months! We are so excited.

Update on John

John has been on fantastic rotations for the last few weeks. He finished ambulatory on Friday and is now on Neurology. These are known as some of the best rotations of intern year. It is wonderful having John home earlier and also good for him as he needs to start studying for the Boards. We are going to Ashville, North Carolina with Matt and Tiffany at the end of this month so that our husband's can take the Boards, the third test in getting your license as a medical professional. The first two tests came during medical school.

John is also looking into a fellowship in "Wilderness Medicine." I don't understand all the details of this but basically, fellowships are sort of like an "add on" to your specialty (which is family medicine for John.) He has been working on the details for this program. This would not require an extra year of residency. It would be something he took classes on during residency. That's about all I know. All this stuff is confusing to me.

Jacksonville

JB and I are leaving for Jacksonville on Thursday afternoon and will return on Saturday afternoon. We are going t get to see Nicole and Bay while we are there. They offered to put us up at Bay's apartment, but since it is Valentine's Day weekend, we decided to get a nice hotel and have a little get-away. Scrubs will be staying with our dog trainer in Crestview. These are kennels, but not in the traditional sense. Dogs are let out five times a day and also have 1-2 training sessions a day. I think Scrubs will have a great time! Jodi is out of town, and while my friend Heather has offered to watch Scrubs, he can't be left home alone yet. When he can be left home alone, this will be an option.

A few more glimpses of the weekend

This is on Saturday before Tara left. She is such a dog person! She decided to sit by Scrubs while he napped.

Scrubs, thinking he is a lap dog.

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day here in Florida. Sorry to make all of you Minnesotans jealous! After church, Tristan and Shannon and their three boys invited us to join them for a quick lunch on the bay. JB just finished a rotation with Tristan (ambulatory). We are so sad that they are done with their residency come July!

Here are their two oldest boys, Zachary and Michah. How cute are they?

And another one of these darling little guys.

Here is JB with the youngest: Nathan.

After a fun lunch, JB and I headed back to the house. I did an hour's worth of work for Mayo and then we headed to the dog park with Scrubs. I have NEVER seen so many dogs out. There were dozens and dozens of dogs (my guess would be 50?) Usually there are less than 10 there at a time. Seems everyone wanted to get out with their pups. Scrubs was still limping a bit but otherwise, had a great time playing and roaming. Mostly, he roams around and smells and figures out where I am, runs back to me, and then wanders off again, all the while waiting for a dog to start chasing him. Scrubs loves to be chased! He also goes up to anyone who wants to pet him and lets them pet him for about one second before he runs off again. Everyone who pets Scrubs is amazed at how soft he is! I agree! I love our soft doggie!

While Scrubs was playing, JB and I took turns running on the soccer fields next to the park. He ran first and then I went and ran. Exercise for all three of us!

Afterwards, we headed back to base. Since Scrubs was going to get a bath anyway, we decided to go to the bay. On the way to the bay with Scrubs, we ran into Matt and Tiffany and William so we all walked over to the bay together. Scrubs hadn't been in the water forever since it has been so cold (of course, this is a bit relative ... I understand), but he dove right in, playing in the sandbar, finding dead fish (yuck) and retrieving his now pretty pathetic looking frisbee.

We finished out the night with some leftovers. JB had to work on a presentation for his neurology rotation which starts today. He is doing it on RLS! I did some work in the nursery since Scrubs was so worn out he couldn't bother me. It is much improved so I'll try to take some pics later today to share.

What a wonderful weekend!

I've also updated our visitors to Eglin page. Click here to check it out.

Good bye Tara!

Well, I'll start with some photos that I stole from Tara so that you don't have to be tempted to scroll to the bottom. These were some of my favorites over the five days she was here.






All right. So now that we got all that photo stuff out-of-the-way, let me just say that: WE MISS YOU TARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so wonderful to have a bit of "home" here on Eglin AFB. Tara just feels like home. Hanging out with her is easy and relaxed and laid back. Maybe that's because I talk twice as much as she does so I don't ever feel like I am struggling to keep up! Tara is one of those friends that you don't need to make small talk with or explain a bunch of things to. The blogs have helped with that. And the fact that Tara remembers everything. She remembers anything I write on the blog and all the details so I don't have to re-explain anything. After three or more years of friendship during medical school at Mayo and a month and a half in Africa together, we are friends for life.

But we still didn't tell her XY's name.

This morning I took Tara to the airport in Valparaiso. The next we see her will be at Hans and Rachel's wedding -- a wedding we hope to attend with our little guy in tow.

JB needs the computer now for a presentation he is working on. I'll fill you in on our Sunday later.

Lovin' the non-vacancy in the B & B

JB and I really do just love having people visit us here on the AFB. Our life is different here. The base is wonderful but a bit isolated from the "things to do" around Destin. Our favorite spots: Destin Commons, Baytowne Wharf, and the Destin beach, are good half hour drives and just not something we do everyday. So having company in, like Tara, gives us a good excuse to do some of the things we love.

Tara had a bit of a rough day yesterday. She is one of those people who really never gets sick but unfortunately just didn't feel well most of the day yesterday. She is also one of those people who loves to experience the unique activities of every place she visits, however, so this doesn't bode well with her sense of adventure. That means despite the fact that she wasn't feeling well, she was up for our planned events of the day which included a trip out on the boat. (JB got off early enough to do this on a Friday!) It also included a trip to Baytowne Wharf where we had dinner at Rumrunners and got to enjoy the dueling piano players again. JB and I really enjoy both of these experiences immensely so this was a very good time. Tara took lots of pictures so nag her a bit to post them!

The boat trip included a jaunt to Crab Island which wasn't looking very "Emerald Coast" like at all. Sometimes the water out there is just so perfectly, well, Emerald, and sometimes, like yesterday, it was more like, well, green algae or some other not-a-nice-green-color concoction. Not a great glimpse for Tara into our beautiful water here. However, we anchored anyways, fed the seagulls, let JB fish a bit, and took short snoozes under the sun. We got a pontoon boat which worked much better with Scrubs as he could run around and not look so just-about-ready to fall in (like he did on the ski boat when Hans and Rachel came.) The only moment of dog-terror came when he decided to climb up on the seats in the back of the boat while JB was in full drive. Tara and JB immediately pounced on him before he could jump in, but when he landed, the poor pup twisted his ankle or something. So a bad ankle on top of his blistered feet, has left us with a pretty gimpy, but much slowed down dog. All the better to catch him when he steals something, like socks out of Tara's room, that he isn't supposed to have.

As for other events of our lives, there isn't too much to report. JB is just finishing up his ambulatory rotation and about to start in on neurology. Both of these are amazingly laid back rotations and a wonderful break from some of the chaos that preceeded these rotations.

I am, as is usual, busy with work. We have, and I hate to say it out loud, a grant due at Mayo next Friday. The good news is: this will be my last grant at Mayo Clinic. As sad as I am to leave my post there, I am so relieved not to work on any more grants. They really, really, really stress me out. It's just the whole deadline thing that is overwhelming and frustrating, especially when you are at the mercy of other physicians taking their sweet time in getting materials back to you. Anyways, we haven't missed a deadline yet so I don't foresee this being any different. It's hard to believe that I am now only about a month and a half away from resigning from that job. Wow!

My job at RLSF is going great. I am getting ready to send a 40-page newsletter to the press! Normally our newsletters are 20 pages and I am the Editor and put these out four times a year. However, this is a special, celebratory issue, so it is double the size -- and double the work. But, it is now done! I plan to just do one more read to see if I can find any last minute errors before sending it to be printed. Yay!

We are also planning a trip to Jacksonville on Thursday of next week. Scrubs is going to stay in the kennel in Crestview with our dog trainer. She does dog training while he stays there and other activities so I really wouldn't even call it a kennel. He loves those ladies there too so it should be a good time. He's only going to stay for two nights as his good buddy Jodi is out of town. John and I are going to leave on Thursday night and come back on Saturday afternoon. We've booked a hotel in Jacksonville that has a fantastic military discount and will also, hopefully, get to see Nicole and new fiancée Bay, while we are there! That will be a lot of fun. The trip also corresponds with Valentines Day so it'll be a nice weekend away for the two of us on our ninth married V-day. And our last childless Valentines Day to boot. Weird.

The fact that we are going to have a baby here in a mere, tweleve weeks, is starting to feel more and more real and strange all wrapped into one. JB and I often talk about the fact that we wonder if it is easier or harder to be married for 2 or 3 times the length that most couples are usually married before having children enter the mix. In one way, we can honestly say that we have adequately been able to enjoy and relish in an empty next. On the other hand, we wonder if that enjoyment means we will be even more hit upside the head when little XY comes to join our family. Either way, we know there will be a lot of adjustments, and we are getting more and more excited about them. I really don't need people to say, "just you wait until . . . "Quite honestly, I know I may not sleep much and may be completely and utterly overwhelmed. And I am okay with that. Please remember that I spent the last four years of my life not sleeping in an attempt to get to this point. So I'm okay with some more sleepless nights for this dream come true. At least my sleepless nights will leave me holding a baby instead of staring at the ceiling.

Well, Tara and JB are still asleep. Scrubs is sitting in the hallway, taking turns crying outside both of their doors, wanting one or both of them to come out and play with him. I better go get him before he wakes them up!

Happy Birthday to Gabbi & Nancy

Today is my sister-in-law Gabbi's (pictured at right) birthday and I have finally remembered. It was atually Gabbi's idea for me to get this cool email delivery system that emails me to remind me of important dates. It has worked wonders for me. I LOVE IT!

My little reminder thingy also tells me that it is Nancy G's birthday! Happy birthday Mrs. G!

Also, I find it unnecessary to post too much today as Tara pretty much covered it on her blog! so visit her at: OVERDUE to see what we did last night. We hope to be able to do a lot more now that the work week is coming to an end for both JB and myself! We gotta get this traveller out and about!

Enjoying friends

It's been wonderful having Tara here. JB cooked some burgers on Tuesday evening, and we just hung out and caught up. On Wednesday, the wives came over for brunch. It's always a whirlwind with all those moms and all the kids congregated in one place. Wow! Lots of little boys = lots of activity. Of course, there is the lone girl, Della, who takes everything in stride! Hard to believe in just a few months I'll throw a boy of ours into the mix. I am also, always impressed with Tara who has the best memory EVER! She already seemed to know everyone's names and who they were married to just from the blog and conversations we shared. She remembers so many details -- seriously -- it's amazing!

Tara, Scrubs, and I also went for a run later that day and then JB, Tara, and I went for sushi in the evening. Well, Tara and JB had sushi. I steered clear.

So far, Thursday has been a quiet day. JB left early, and I let him take the car in. Tara and I took the pup for a run. At one point, I stopped and walked and Tara kept running. We were back on the trail in the woods so I let Scrubs off leash. He was running back and forth, and I think he may have gotten some blisters on his front paws. He limped the whole way home! Poor little guy. Sure enough he has two open blisters that he keeps licking.

Tonight, Tara and I will go to the book club with the wives (minus the children.) JB will stay home and watch William until Matt gets off since the book club is a "no children" event! It's always nice to get together with everyone when it's a bit quieter and less kid-focused. I love the kids, don't get me wrong. But the book club nights are always fun.

I'm trying to get Tara to update her blog! Bug her everyone! :) No, don't do that. She seems to be having a great time recooping from some difficult and time-consuming work weeks with reading, runs, and rests! It is so great to have her here and catch up with a good friend.

Tara made it!

She's here folks! Yippeee!

What's even better is they routed her to Fort Walton Beach instead (the difference between a ten minute drive and an hour drive.) Unfortunately, they did not route her luggage so we still aren't sure how that's going to work out. Hopefully, somehow, she'll get her bags today.

As I scoured my drawers for clothes that would semi-fit Tara, there were Nigeria flashbacks all over again. Only then, there were four of us missing luggage. Only Ajit's toiletry bag made it (with one bar of soap, one pack of razor blades, and one thing of Head and Shoulders.) And I was the only girl who had clothes that made it. Now, I have a washer that she can use to wash what she does have instead of trying to wash and dry the one outfit she had by hand. Now I have a whole closet to scour instead of being forced to give her a pair of JB's boxer shorts and the smallest shirt I brought which was still way too big on her!

It is great to see Tara and so wonderful when friends as close as family come into town. I didn't bother to make the bed or run the vacuum. It's Tara! She's seen us at our worst, for six weeks, in Africa. She's also a dog person, which is good. Scrubs has been going crazy when new people come into the house. He can barely contain himself. It takes him about ten minutes before he is a normal dog again. Anyways, it will be wonderful to have Tara here and catch up on her life. Last night consisted of her and JB swapping a lot of stories. I can follow about half of them. The acronyms often mess me up. But it's fun to hear them talk.

* * *

In other news, please pray for us and for peace and patience with our China adoption. We got word yesterday that the wait time is now up to 27 months. In addition, they are estimating that the wait time will increase from 6 months to 1 year for every year you are on the list. In other words, this could make our wait be as long as four years. And we aren't even on the waiting list yet. We still have to get all of our stuff back from immigration and send in our Dossier before that happens. I was hoping to have that done by February but it is looking like a new goal of March might even be a bit lofty.

We are okay with waiting as we will have our little XY here. I can't imagine the frustration of all these delays if it weren't for his presence and the dream of his presence. But there are some other complications to the wait that we aren't sure how to deal with.

These include the fact that we still want to go back for our embryos. We are okay waiting on this, but neither of us are sure we want to wait seven years (the years for her to get her and then a bit of time after she gets here.) There is a chance, with the new rules about concurrent adoptions, that we could try while we are waiting as baby XY gets a bit older. As, we all know, there are no guarantees that going back means it will work, but we would still need to confirm with our agency that a pregnancy wouldn't cause us to be bumped on the list. But it's complicated. And expensive. Quitting my job at Mayo means I will lose my 50% discount for subsequent IVF's. Each cycle costs about $2000 with the discount. (That means about $4000 without.) We will have to go back at least two more times. Possibly three. We are also paying a monthly storage fee while we wait.

We also may be overseas after residency, and we have to continue to update our home study and some other paperwork for every year we wait which will cost a bit of money. We aren't even sure this can be done from overseas.

This may sound like I am really stressed or really worried about the money. I really am not. I really do feel peace about this. I know the Lord is in charge, and I know he has our daughter picked out already! I just want that peace to continue and for us to continue to trust him during this difficult wait time.

Tara's still not here!!!

Tara was supposed to get in at 2:40pm. It's now 3pm and I am still on base! Apparently two different mechanical errors delayed the flight before weather grounded them. She is now off the plane again and in the terminal, waiting to leave Dallas! Bummer!!! Hopefully she'll get in tonight. Hurry Tara!!!!

No more PB & J

You know how something sounds good, and then you eat it, and then you realize you've had way too many of that particular food, and it doesn't taste good at all?

That's what happened to me today with a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. I'm taking a break from those for at least like, three days.

Tara comes to visit!

Our great friend Tara is coming into town today and staying until Saturday. It will be so wonderful to see her as we haven't connected since graduation. She is currently a family medicine/OB resident in California and is using some of her very hard-earned off-time to hang out with us here in Florida. Tara was in JB's class at Mayo and is, seriously, one of the smartest people I know. Okay, she's blushing now, but oh well. She also went to Africa with us. It's pretty amazing that we could pick five people to spend six weeks together and not have anyone kill each other during the trip.

Hurry up and get here Tara!

Realization Part II

After my post the other day talking about infertility pain and my realization that my pain's intensity is so much lighter, I got some wonderful comments. I wanted to share and discuss a few of them.

Funky Monkey wrote:

I had a single friend recently tell me that so many of her friends have forgotten how hard it is to be single, when all you want is to be married. She feels very isolated and alone. Not just forgotten by all her married friends, but by God. Another faith crisis similar to the one infertility can cause.I understood exactly what she meant. And I think you do too.Please, let's not forget the pain of this journey. I don't want any woman's pain compounded by the fact that we've made them feel isolated or forgotten.

Funky, I cannot agree with you more. Honestly, my single friends and single people in general, especially women, sit so heavily on my heart. I know that they are grieving two dreams: the dream of a spouse and the dream of a child. I have watched friends go through this and it is so painful to watch. I feel almost selfish grieving for my own infertility when I am grieving it with JB sitting by me. I actually do feel selfish.

I also agree with you on a second level. We canNOT forget this pain. I realized how much I'll never be able to forget this yesterday when I was home by myself, working, and flipping channels. I stopped on a show on the Discovery Channel about a woman who had quints from infertility drugs. And I thought, "This looks interesting." One hour in, and my heart was in pain. I was feeling jealous, frustrated, and sad all over again. I realized that while my pain is at rest, it's still present, and can creep up at any time.

And you know what? I thought back to your comment. I don't think I want that to change. I am glad that the intense pain has subsided -- the pain that caused me to cry at a moment's notice and at the most inopportune times. The pain that forced me to leave church during that painful sermon where the pastor busted out a positive pregnancy test or avoid services on Mother's Day. But that slight pain, the pain that reminds me of what I went through and what so many women are still going through, and what people in general are going through that are struggling with grief (singleness, divorce, death, etc.) I don't want to forget that. Ever.

Laura wrote:

At some point, all of us struggle with something that tests us, removes us from living, and denies us hope. But anytime we get through it, it's not only important to acknowledge the pain of that event--it's also important to recognize what we've learned in the process. Not only does the experience provide empathy, but it also gives us perspective. Have you ever noticed that when you absolutely stop focusing on your struggle, your struggle is absolutely over? It wasn't until I was OK with being single that I found my spouse. It wasn't until I was OK with not having children that I found myself the parent of a beautiful baby girl. Sometimes I think our pain is so intense that we're not hearing God say, "It's OK. I'm here, and I have plans for you! Just be patient a little bit longer." I know in crisis I rarely, if ever, hear that voice. God had amazing plans for you all along. This is your time--embrace it and enjoy loving life!

This comment also ministered to me. I so agree Laura! If we can take the focus of our problem, the problem goes away. The question is, how do we do that when the storm is raging? It seems a bit easier when the clouds roll back. But while the clouds are there, smiling through the storm is the ultimate test of our faith. I pray that the next time I am faced with that sort of intense grief, I can reflect back on these four years and realize that the Lord will be faithful.

I had two prayers during these last years. My first prayer was obviously for our own biological child. That dream has not come true yet. But the other prayer was that that the Lord would take the pain away. That He would comfort me and make me "okay" with where we were. I still don't quite understand why things had to happen the way they have, but I am comforted even though I am not completely at peace.

Bri's mom, Joan, told me that whenever she tells people about Bri's decision to give her baby up for adoption, nearly all of them say, "Well if anything falls through with Wendi, I know someone." I keep thinking that Bri picked us! And a big reason she picked us was because we are still infertile. Would little XY still be joining our family if we already had a child or two of our own? Would Bri have picked someone else? I don't know. But I know, even though I haven't met him yet, that he belongs in our home. I am so glad Bri picked us. I'm so glad to get to be his parents. And if that meant going through infertility for him to call me "Mom" then okay. I'll do it. And I'm sure I'll be screaming that even louder after I meet the little guy!

And a friend from Hannah's Prayer wrote:

Your post brought tears to my eyes . . . Thank you for being an encouragement to those who are still grieving their infertility. It helps to know that healing is possible.

Friend, when I was going through the heat of my infertility, I met a woman through church. Her name was Kelly. I have my friend Ebby to thank for that. Christ Community Church, our church in Minnesota, sent a questionnarie to all the women of the church asking for our opinions about the women's ministry. I wrote about how I couldn't get involved because I felt left out. There were singles. There were young couples. There were couples with children. There were groups for divorced and elderly and abortion recovery and teenage pregnancy. Where was the group for me? Where was the group for us as a couple? I felt isolated. Ebby put me in touch with Kelly, another woman at the church going through infertility as well. Kelly was about ten years older than me. She and her husband still don't have children and made the decision not to adopt. But Kelly was at peace. And she promised me that I would find that peace if I held onto the Lord. Kelly was right.

Kelly and I met Roberta and the three of us helped start "Hearts like Hannah", a support group for women of the church and the community. It is still going on today. It was such a blessing to me.

I don't know your story friend. But yet, actually, I do know it. I know the pain and where your heart is. All I can tell you is to do as I did. Pray for your child. Pray for your dreams. And at the same time, ask the Lord to take the pain away. Ask Him to make you feel better. Ask Him to guide your steps, in his way, even if it isn't the way you have have in mind. The pain, for me, has not completely left. I still have moments, like yesterday as I watched this family go through infertility treatments and get the family of their dreams, that I am sad. But the sadness has eased up.

God promises that "joy cometh in the morning." And I can tell you that it does!

Thank you all for sharing your comments. You say my writing blesses you. But your comments bless me right back.

Yay New York! Yay watching the game with JB!

I just got back from the hospital. JB and I were able to watch the entire game together. He only got paged one time and it was just for a quick question. How cool is that?! I brought Subway and cookies for JB and Nick, his senior. Unfortunately, Nick got paged away, and we thought he had eaten cookies and we proceeded to finish them off before Nick came back only to realize Nick hadn't had a one! Oh well. JB and I pigged out. But it was great fun. And a great game on top of that. So cool to see that the Dolphins are still the only undefeated team in NFL history! Yippeee!

Current state of the Kit. nursery

All right Joia, here you go. I finally took a few pictures inside the nursery and also a video. I do not think you will be very impressed. One of JB's fellow classmates, Katie, who is now an Army doc in Texas is due about the same time. Her nursery looks a lot farther along. Katie has tried to encourage me that they moved fast because she went into pre-term labor. However, I can't help but feel slow ... Are we ready? Not even close! I know Bri wants this to come fast. And while I definitely can't, wait, I'm praying it doesn't come too fast! Okay Bri?! Keep him cooking awhile longer while I work on the nursery some more.

Also, if you haven't put in a guess for the baby's details, what are you waiting for folks? Guess away. Good job Bara not leaving all the guessing to the ladies!

Sunday Smiles

My Aunt Linda sent me this. They made me smile. I hope they brighten your Sunday as well!

Ponderisms

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in". . . But it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the "Alphabet" song and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Happy belated birthday to JB

The pictures above are from a little "get together" we had at our house on Friday evening. We had Clay and his wife Brittney and their two daughters over. Clay is a second year resident. We also had Tristan and his wife Shannon and their three boys over. Tristan is a third year resident. We met both of these families through the residency program. They then encouraged us to attend a care group and subsequently our church. They have each invited us over before, but we had yet to open our home to them.

The kids loved Scrubs although four of them at once (the baby was sleeping) left Scrubs feeling a bit outnumbered. He does so well with them unless they start running from him at which point Scrubs thinks the game is for him to catch them. So we have to work at that both on the kid-end and on the dog-end.

JB has been on "ambulatory" for a week now -- a really nice rotation. I knew, as an English major that "ambulatory" had something to do with walking so about halfway through the week I finally figured out that this means procedures that people can "walk away" from. Colonscopys and vasectomys are two of the most popular I believe. JB seems to be enjoying it and especially enjoying getting home at a decent hour every day.

Today we finally celebrated his birthday. I was out-of-town when his real birthday occurred. My mom gave him money for a movie for his birthday so today we went and saw the second National Treasure movie (JB loved it. I thought it was okay) and then hit a sushi place (JB's choice of course) for dinner. We ran a few errands which included JB using some of his gift certificates (from Keith & AD, Mom K., and Aunt Betsy -- thanks guys) to buy two of the knives he wanted at William & Sonoma. He was very excited about this.

We are now back home and planning on spending a low-key rest-of-the-evening together as a family before he goes back on call tomorrow. Tomorrow, I am planning on trying to get an extra day of work in. Tara comes in on Tuesday, and I'd like to be able to take some time off during the week to spend with her so some extra hours will help with this. It's hard to believe that I have only two months left at Mayo. Wow. I will greatly miss my coworkers there despite the distance but am anxious for some more time to get ready for the arrival of our little one.

Speaking of baby arrival -- folks, we finally purchased something for the baby. I know, I know. Aren't your proud? We purchased hangers!!!! We have been so blessed by clothes that last week we purchased 80 hangers and before we had even gotten through half the clothes, ran out! So today we returned for 100 more. Unbelievable!