Almost 2009

It is just so hard to believe that it is almost 2009! Wow, where did the time go? As we traveled home we reflected on 2008. It hasn't been the best year but wasn't the worst either. It was definitely a memorable year; one that we won't ever forget. From the highs of James's new job and a move to CO, to the lows of losing the twins. We can look back and do the "what if's" but instead we are thinking toward our future. This year we have been reminded that life just doesn't happen according to our plans. We have learned that life happens and you have to keep faith and deal with things as they happen.

We closed on our house on the 29th of December and are so excited to move on with our lives. 2009 is going to be a fresh start for us. I hope 2009 is wonderful for all of us.

Happy New Year!

A Lot of Traveling

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

We were in four states over six days. Even though we had to take numerous flights and had one major delay we had a great time with our families. I always get sad after Christmas because I know that we will wait another year to see some of our family.

We are happy to be back in CO and are leaving tomorrow for a skiing extravaganaza. We are staying in Vail and are taking three half day lessons. By Saturday we should be confident enough at skiing to ski on Blues. We will see! If we aren't, we are promised lessons until we can ski on the Blue. Then we will have a mountain pass for the rest of the season!

Happy Holidays!

We will be off tomorrow to see our families for the holidays. We are so excited to see everyone. We haven't seen some of our extended families for a year. We'll be back before New Years and then will head up in the mountains to do some skiing. We hope to be a lot better at skiing after three days of lessons. We'll see.

It is so nice to have some time off school. My year is now about half over. Hopefully we will have good news sometime in the New Year! :)

Happy Holidays!

Snow Play

I have a feeling our backyard is going to continuously be covered with snow until March. We still had snow in the backyard from the last snow and on Saturday night/Sunday morning we got more snow. We had a great time playing in the snow, especially Molly and James. Poor Molly needs snow boots because the snow got between her paws and she kept lifting them up because they were cold.
Oh yeah, did I mention how cold it was today? It was -15 degrees this morning. I have never been in a place that was that cold. James and I left the house to go to the store and the thermometer on the car said 0. I wonder if it goes below 0?

Let It Snow!

We loved the Spring and Summer here in Denver but I'm not so sure we are ready for the snow! Last week we got aobut 4 inches of snow one morning and my drive to work was not fun. It was the kind of snow that would have canceled school in St. Louis. I was still shaking when I finally arrived at school an hour after I left the house. I have to get used to it I guess because snows are frequent here but at least it is sunny and the snow is usually gone by late afternoon. People get excited when it snows and it isn't a big deal. It still feels like a big deal to me though. We are supposed to get 2-6 inches tonight through tomorrow morning and I am already dreading the drive. It will be okay and I will get used to it, I guess.

I am ready for the winter break. Two weeks off sounds so good right now. The kids are very hyper and I just need to make it through until next Friday, which will be a crazy day with the winter party and all.

The kids are really cute though. They are excited for Santa to come and have written some great letters. My 2nd graders had a music performance last week and one came to school the next day and told me that he knew the tooth fairy was hiding in the audience. They are always saying funny things. That's what makes teaching worth it.

Have a great week everyone!

Sold!!

We have another thing to be thankful for today. We have sold our house back in St. Louis! We are so happy to be able to move on and the closing date is December 29th!

Have a great weekend everyone. We have both of our work holiday parties this weekend. I love the holiday season!

It's been a year

It is hard to believe that we received the referral of the twins a year ago (and a few days). That was the best day of our lives and then everything unraveled before us. Some days are harder than others but those beautiful boys are never far away from our thoughts. We think about them all the time and hope that they get the family they deserve. It is difficult going into our tiny garage and seeing all of the boxes because most of them are full of things for the boys.

Sometimes we do think that we should have done things differently but we didn't have anyone to learn from (we didn't know of that many other RFE's at that time) and our agency was worthless when it came to helping us.

Even though it has been such a hard year full of heartache we are still hopeful that God has a plan for us and those boys. We still love them and always will. It is just so hard thinking about another adoption. I know our hearts will welcome a baby but what if things don't work out for us again? Having faith only gets you so far. We are still thinking about the possibilities.

We do have so much to be thankful for and we need to focus on those things. We can't live our lives with what if's because we still believe we made the best decision based on the information we had. It doesn't make it easier though.

Thanksgiving

I can still hear the slot machines in my head! We had such a great time in Vegas but it feels good to be home. Las Vegas is not a cheap place to go. Where else can you spend $60 dollars on an appetizer and two drinks at any restaurant? Walking around Vegas during the holidays you would have no idea our economy isn't doing well right now. There were people everywhere and loads of foreign tourists. At times it felt like we were in a different country.

We weren't real lucky with the slot machines (I don't like them because they just eat my money). One night when James was playing poker I had to ask for more money because I kept losing. Luckily James did well with poker and covered some of my losses.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We had some good meals and had tickets for KA. We went in the theater and were waiting for the show to begin. All of a sudden all of the lights went on and someone made an announcement that the show was canceled because of technical difficulties. Everyone thought he was joking and nobody got up. James realized he wasn't and we rushed to the ticket line and got to exchange for tickets on Friday night. I'm glad we got to go. It was absolutely amazing, especially the set. We were mesmerized!

We had a great time but are glad to be home. It was nice to have a mini vacation.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Vegas Baby!

It is the best day ever. James took the day off because he needed some mental health time off work. He hasn't really had any vacation days off for well over a year. At his old company he was trying to save vacation time for the trip to Vietnam. When he switched jobs and moved to CO his last day at his old company was on Friday and then he started his new job on Monday. So, today we slept in and went to our favorite breakfast place, Einstein's bagels. Yum! We are going to exercise outside and then pack.

We are headed to Vegas today! We are going to see KA tomorrow night and are just going to relax and have fun. We aren't huge gamblers but we will try to be lucky. :) We got such a great deal and will be staying at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The hotel room is almost as big as our whole house!

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. This is our first without our families so the trip will help. We will get to see our family over Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The First Attempt

We drove up to a town close to Vail, CO, on Saturday to stay with our friends who are renting the condo for the winter. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous!

We went to a fun brewery and then spent the night playing the Wii. James made chili so that we could eat it for lunch on Sunday after skiing. The chili was a hit. The whole pot of chili disappeared on Saturday night (after we had eaten out). Oops!

Sunday morning Eric attempted to take the dogs for a walk but they wanted to play. They ran around the condo and had a great time until they got covered with hitchhiker seeds. That delayed us for quite a while. Molly enjoyed the attention as we all tried to pick them off of her. She got a nice haircut. It still looks a little lopsided and we are still finding them.

We then got dressed in our ski gear and headed for Breckenridge. The worst thing about the ski gear is the boots. They are heavy and hard to walk in. It felt like I was wearing bricks and yes, I was the slowpoke of the group. The gondola ride was a little scary but beautiful! It was windy and we did stop a few times which scared me to death but it was worth it. When we got to the top we all put on our skis and little did I know the next lift would be the trickiest. As soon as I got my skis on Eric helped me get in line as I proceeded to fall. He had to help me up and then we got to the easy lift (looked like a treadmill). I was terrified! I couldn't even stand in my skis. I told the guy that I hadn't done it before and he basically pushed me on. I took off with my skis on and somehow managed to make it on the lift. As we got up to the top of the green slopes (bunny) the hard part was getting off the lift. Somehow I managed to get off without falling and stopped. We spent most of the afternoon learning how to make a wedge. I got really good at this and anytime I felt like I was going too fast I just wedged down. I learned how to get myself up after falling which was not a small feat. James did like zooming down a little more than I did.

We survived and will try it again. Our friends really helped us but we could definitely use a few more lessons. It is frustrating when little kids zoom past you on the hill. On the last run James was switching back and forth down the hill and the next thing he knew his ski got caught and he went tumbling down. A little kid asked, "Are you okay?" That was a little hard to get used to. The little kid skis are so small!

Needless to say we are both sore but we will definitely going to do it again. Maybe some day we will be on the blue. We'll see. We love the mountains in the summer and the winter. If only we could just have a condo or house, then we would be up there every weekend. One can wish, right?

Look Out!!

We are hitting the slopes this weekend. Neither one of us has ever been skiing and I am nervous about it. I want to try it because everyone talks about it but I am not a fan of heights!! I think the worst part will be the ski lift. Our friends are renting a condo near Vail and offered to teach us. We were going to take lessons anyway but hopefully we don't embarrass ourselves.

Also, on Tuesday it was 78 degrees and on Thursday we are expecting snow or freezing drizzle. Crazy weather!!

I hope we have some interesting posts to write in the future. We'll work on it!

Ways you know you're in CO

1) A fox in our front yard (we live in Denver)

2) My kids chase tumbleweeds at recess for fun.

3) It snows in the morning and is sunny and beautiful in the afternoon.

4) You can see a colorful sunset over the mountains while walking out of Target.

5) You can't go a day without hearing about skiing or ski passes (we are going to try soon).


We love CO! It has been a great weekend, minus the car accident. We went out to dinner with friends on Friday and Saturday and spent some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Honesty we have not experienced any rainy, cold weekends yet. The one weekend when it wasn't nice in CO we were in St. Louis for the Mizzou game and it was 80 degrees there. Today James said that he actually wanted a day where it wasn't nice outside so he wouldn't feel guilty for not being outside. I am sure one of those days will come this winter but really it is always sunny here. When it does get cold we can handle it as long as it's sunny.

I hope everyone had great weekends and now it is back to work.

Crazy Friday!!!!

Besides the fact that my 2nd graders were hyper all day, the day was really crazy. At the end of the day I went to boot camp (the P.E. teacher instructs it for the teachers) and then headed out the door to rush home so that we could go to dinner with some friends. I guess everyone else was in a rush too. The highway I normally take home is really busy on Friday nights. I veered into the left lane and then traffic was stopping. As I stopped someone veered over from another lane behind me and couldn't stop. They hit me, I hit the car in front of me, and a car hit the car that hit me. It felt like a dream, especially since it was pitch black outside. The car that I hit didn't even stop! I got out of the car (wearing shorts by the way) and asked the police officer what to do and he said to move my car to the other side of the highway. I feel really bad because the first phone call I made to James went something like, "I was in an accident, I don't know what to do." I then called back and panicked about not being able to find our insurance card. James is such a trooper. He had just sat down to have a drink with a friend at the restaurant we were all going to meet at later. After my phone calls, I sat in my car shivering and filling out paperwork. An investigator came to the scene so I sat in my car for quite awhile. Luckily the car isn't in bad shape and I was told that the other two people were issued tickets. I feel so fortunate because it could have been worse. Literally on the rest of the stretch of highway before my exit I saw three other chain accidents. What a day. Before I left school I complained about how tired I was and didn't really feel like going out to dinner. I guess I shouldn't have complained because things can always get worse!

Thanks!

Thanks for all of the comments!! I had lost track of a few blogs and am so happy to be reading them again. It is also nice to know who is still reading. To everyone back in STL, we miss you guys!!

Tucker the not so terrible (trying to be nice) is gone!! His owners were very appreciative and we didn't want to hurt their feelings by talking about how he drove us crazy. We did show them the remnants of our hiking journal and photo album. They are taking us out for dinner tomorrow night and brought us a nice bottle of champagne. We are going to celebrate the fact that our house no longer smells like dogs, we don't have to give all of our attention to Tucker, and we don't have to leave the house feeling guilty. That was the worst part about it--putting him in his crate and hearing him cry outside. One day I could hear him as I backed out of the driveway. It sounded like somebody was torturing him. I think Molly is glad she can sleep during the day again.

Humm.. maybe all of it was a little preparation for a baby?? It definitely confirmed that I am not sure how I would teach elementary school full time and have a baby. People do it and maybe it won't be as bad next year since I would know the curriculum, etc. but I am just drained each day. It must get easier, right??

Anyone?

This blog was originally created because we were referred twin baby boys from Vietnam. We had so many blog followers and people interested in our journey. It was nice to see that there were so many people out there following our journey.

Now we are writing about the happenings in our lives. I know it isn't as interesting now and the people reading it before were primarily reading because of the exciting thing happening in our lives. Right now we are just writing to write about our adventures in CO for our family and friends back in STL. We hope that maybe one day it will be a blog to document our adoption journey again.

We would like to know who is still reading our blog. We get a few comments here and there but we think quite a few people stopped reading because we didn't complete our adoption journey. We understand but are just wondering if anyone is still reading.

Please Pray for Stephanie

A friend of a really good friend of mine is going through cancer and is not doing very well. She has three small children and is in the Mayo clinic right now. Please pray for a miracle. Her story is truly inspiring. Here is the blog that was created for her. Her husband and friends provide daily updates and prayer requests.
http://rainkitephotography.typepad.com/stephanie_vest/about-stephanie.html

Argg....

Why was he so sleepy yesterday??????

I think he was quite busy while we were at work.

Tucker has separation anxiety. As soon as you stick him in his crate he starts shaking and goes crazy. He gets very destructive as you can see. He actually moved his crate near the black book shelf. He then grabbed our hiking journal and tore it to shreds. Also, notice the bite out of our red photo album. James thought it was quite impressive. We were both so angry that we couldn't even look at him. We did finally come around and got over it. We had to tell ourselves, "He is just a puppy." We do want our house back though. James is in Salt Lake City so I have to rush home to get to the dogs and I have so much to do at school! Next Tuesday can't come soon enough.

We finally did laugh about the incident and got in much better moods when the election was called. What a historic moment! Obviously the dogs were excited too....

I have made some bad choices lately. I will probably not volunteer to watch a puppy with problems for two weeks and I won't ever do what I did tonight! James and I joined 24 hour fitness because it is getting colder outside, not to mention the fact that it is dark at 5:00. So, I decided to go to Turbo Kick. Bad idea! I was embarrassed because I had no rhythm and everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing. It was not a good feeling. If the instructor had given a little instruction it would have helped but she just kept calling routines that people already knew. I tried to go along with it but wow, I couldn't keep up at all. I am going to have a glass of wine and call it a night.

Always Ready for the Weekends!

The work weeks have been so busy for us lately. James has started traveling to Salt Lake City for meetings and I have had several after school activities. The weekends have been even more precious! Plus... we have a new little one...

Okay, just for a few weeks. We are puppy sitting for a mini Australian Shepard while his parents get married back back on the East Coast. Wow, now we realize we have dogs. Molly is such an easy dog that sometimes we don't even realize we even have a dog. Tucker, the puppy, has been a bit more than we can handle. James can now say, "I told you so", because I did say that I wanted a Tucker. Boy was I wrong! The hardest thing about it all is that he has separation anxiety and goes crazy when we put him in his crate before we leave the house. He is a smart little guy and did figure out how to unlatch the bottom lock and squeeze through to freedom (twice!). Only one more week, only one more week. His only saving grace is that he is adorable. That's it! I won't ever say I want two dogs again!!

We are eagerly anticipating Tuesday. I am ready to not see another political ad for three years. Depending on the outcome, we will stay in CO or maybe James might try to get a job in another country. Just kidding!

Here are some pictures from the rally last weekend. It was truly amazing to see so many people waiting in line. Of course you always see some interesting things/people at these kinds of events.

So many people! We loved the horse and he only had one eye.

Is that a Chipmunk for Change?

Have a great week. We hope things slow down soon. We are counting down the weeks until our Vegas trip. I am hoping to have some time to research adoption stuff soon.

Weekend Continued...

It was an amazing day going to see Obama today!! I'll post more pictures tomorrow...

I have one more thing to add to the weekend list

11) Talk about another adoption (we are currently looking into what needs to be done). We haven't made a decision yet but are exploring!

Fun Things About the Weekend

1) Sitting outside at Einstein's Bagels sipping coffee and eating their yummy breakfast burritos
2) Early Voting (Yay CO, we couldn't vote early in MO)
3) Tamales at the nearest farmer's market
4) Beautiful walk/run on a warm fall day
5) More sleep (fell asleep at 9:00 on Friday night and woke up at 8:45 on Saturday)
6) Had time to book flights to go see family over Christmas
7) Found time to book a flight to Vegas over Thanksgiving (cheaper than going back to STL)
8) Shopping for winter clothes I will need soon :( The summer was so beautiful here and we aren't ready for the winter. We are going to try skiing though!
9) Going out to dinner with James
10) Going to see our next president tomorrow (hopefully) in downtown Denver

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekends!

Things and Stuff

While watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta, which is ridiculous by the way, I saw this article on CNN. Wow, can you imagine living in a 154 square foot home? I thought the house we are currently renting is small at a whopping 900 square feet, but wow! I do think that 154 square feet is too small, especially after living in our tiny home.

Does anyone watch any of the Real Housewives shows? I am addicted to them. I don't watch the shows because I envy their lifestyles; I watch because they remind me that I never want that lifestyle. I have never been a name brand kind of person who has to have the latest $500 dollar purse (maybe I had to have the name brands in middle school). As James says, "What does the purse do for $500 dollars?" When it comes down to it, it is all just stuff. It is interesting watching those women living their lives thinking they are better than everyone else because they have fancier houses, more cars, etc. They think they are entitled to everything they have because they are themselves. One of the women does run an organization to help troubled teens but besides that they spend their money on stuff. I wish our society was not one where so many people buy stuff to flaunt the fact that they have more money than the other guy but one where people think about others. I know there are some stars that do great things with their money but there are so many others that keep spending their money on stuff. Seriously, does anyone need 1,000 pairs of shoe??? It is just ludicrous to me.

It really just seems like greed rules the world and that is so sad. It seems to be the root of some of the problems in our country. People want more and more money and it is never enough. So many good things could be done if people thought, "Okay, a few million is enough, I am going to do something good with a large portion of my money." This won't happen because of our society's need for more and more and more.

I will continue to watch the Real Housewives and be reminded how great my life is without the stuff!!

Priorities

I just read an article on CNN about how The Dallas, Texas, school district laid off 375 teachers to avoid an 84 million dollar deficit in their budget. How sad is that? It described elementary students circling around their loved music teacher who had taught them since kindergarten. They were crying and asking why their teacher had to leave. I am biased because I am a teacher and I have seen firsthand the negative impact of higher class sizes. Where are the priorities of our country? Education should be one of the top priorities because these are the children that are going to lead our country in the future. I keep hearing the candidates talk about competing with other nations. How can we compete when education is not a top priority? It is so sad to me to see the Dallas, Texas, school district lose so many teachers and the saddest thing of all is the students are going to lose. I think this is happening all over the country. I teach in a great school district in the suburbs of CO. We are facing a huge budget shortfall; therefore, they have placed a tax increase on the ballot. If this doesn't pass, hundreds of teachers will lose their jobs. I really don't expect it to pass because of the economy right now. I don't blame people for not wanting to pay more in taxes. How can they be expected to pay more when they are worrying about feeding their families? It just seems like there has to be another way.
My district stated that the specialists, including Literacy coaches and Achievement coaches, will lose their jobs first and then many classroom teachers will lose their jobs. This means increased class sizes. This is going to really hurt kids. This year I have 22 students in my 2nd grade class. Right before school started I was slated to have 29 2nd graders in my class *gulp*. Luckily, our principal handled the school budget so efficiently that she was able to hire another 2nd grade teacher. I can't imagine having another 7 students in my room. I can barely teach the 5 reading groups as it is and do individual reading conferences, focus skills' groups, and collect data on 22 students. My students would not have gotten the best education and it wouldn't be fair to them. I would have tried my best but it would have been difficult. Even the room arrangment would have hard. Trying to move around the room to do activities would have chaotic because there would be another whole pod and a half of students in the room. I know that education can't be the top priority because the U.S. has so many other issues like the economy, healthcare, etc., but I hope the next president realizes what is wrong with our education system and finds a way to help school districts, especially school districts in cities that already don't have the resources other ones do. I also hope No Child Left Behind is reformed. I could write another blog post about that one!

Brrr....

Ahh... a dog's life. Is anybody else jealous? The last few days have been a bit cold in Denver and the last few mornings it has been so difficult to get up early in the morning!

Things have been a little hectic the past few weeks with parent teacher conferences, meetings, and our trip back to St. Louis and Mizzou.

We had a great time last weekend seeing our friends and going to the Mizzou game. We were really sad they lost but other than that it was so much fun. Tailgating and a football game, what else could you ask for? Humm.. maybe to be back in college?

Weekends Through Pictures

The last few weekends have flown by because we have been so busy. Two weeks ago James's parents were visiting and we took a train ride through Royal Gorge and went to the Cliff Dwellings. It was really a neat experience.

The next weekend we went to Mount Evans and I ran a half marathon in Boulder.

Now to the grand finale. This past weekend was just amazing. We went camping/hiking with a few friends in the Flat Top mountains. Wow, it was breathtaking. We started in Boulder and drove through Rocky Mountain National Park, then through Grand Lake, and on to our destination. The elk were out in full force in the park and we had to stop for photos! We had a very secluded campsite (I am happy to report no bears) and the Aspen trees were a vibrant yellow. We hiked to the Devil's Causeway. The pictures don't do it justice. James and I decided not to go across the bridge because we didn't want to take Molly. Okay, we were scared or should I say I was scared. Our friends went across it and at some points they had to crawl and hold on to both sides. I was scared for them!

The mountains have been such a nice escape for us and in some way they remind us that life is wonderful and we should cherish each day. Life seems to be a little slower up in the high country. We love it!

Thinking

We are so happy to read about so many approvals and I truly hope that Teresa and Dave get their approval soon so that they can go get Caroline.

This week has been a little rough. We all had our birthdays during the past few weeks and it is difficult because we thought we would have the babies here to celebrate with us. One thing that has helped us through this difficult journey is a change in scenery. We originally decided to move to CO because James was offered a job that would have allowed me to stay home with the boys, at least for a year. It was hard leaving friends and family, especially because everyone thought we were going to get our babies and live so far away. We felt like we made the best decision for us and now, here we are in CO without babies and I am working full time. It's crazy how life works out sometimes.

Anyway, we made a goal to stay busy and try as many new things as we could. The mountains are a nice distraction. It would have been so hard to stay in St. Louis and constantly be asked about the babies. We haven't told many people in CO about our ordeal. The other day it did come up with a few members of my team at school and I just couldn't hold back the tears. I was telling James that I wish I could get back the feeling of when we first saw the picture of the babies. We were scared out of our minds but we were so excited. The thought of twins felt right to us. The six months when we were waiting for our I-600 approval seems like a bad nightmare and the pictures of the babies will be etched in our minds forever.

We are thinking about our future and we know it definitely includes children. We are praying about it and we know that God will lead us down the right path. We keep thinking about how much better our experiences will be when we have a child to share them with.

Smile Award

I got this award from H. Thanks so much! I am glad that we can be positive together because I do think great things will happen to us both. :)
Characteristics for the Smile Award:1. Must display a cheerful attitude.
2. Must love one another.
3. Must make mistakes.
4. Must learn from others.
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world.
6. Must love life.
7. Must love kids.
Rules for The Smile Award:1. The recipient must link back the the award's creator
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.7. You must thank your giver.
The creator of the award is Mere.
Here are my nominations for the smile award:
1) Julie: She has been so supportive during the adoption process. She always had something positive to say and I always smile or laugh when I read her blog. Even during my darkest times, she helped me stay postitive. Thanks Julie!
2) Melissa: I know she said many prayers for us during our journey. She has been through a lot but now has her adorable baby girl home from Vietnam. I couldn't be happier for her and her husband. I know they will be amazing parents.
3) Tammy: She always seems to have a positive attitude towards life; even when it doesn't work out like she planned. She still reads my blog and has nice things to say. I appreciate the nice comments and I know she will make a great mom (hopefully soon).
4) Teresa: She has a hopeful spirit and has handled the rocky bumps during the adoption journey with grace. It is apparent how much Caroline is already loved and I hope that they get good news soon. She will be an amazing mother to Caroline.
5)Kim: Kim and her husband went though exactly everything we went through on our adoption journey. We got to know each other very well through the journey and she helped me get through the really bad days. We laughed, cried, and got angry together. I am so lucky that I met her during this journey. I admire her strength and perserverence. I am so happy for her as she now has her baby boy in Vietnam. I wish them nothing but happiness.

Time, What's That?

Working is definitely overrated! It has been a very busy week and we are both so happy that tomorrow is Friday. It has been so hard to climb out of bed each morning, especially when it is still dark. James's parents have been visiting and last weekend we were busy showing them beautiful CO. We took a train ride to Royal Gorge and saw the cliff dwellings and then on Sunday James and his mom drove up to Mount Evans. I got sick Sat. evening and haven't felt good all week.

I think that I am run down from working too hard and the germs. I do love the kids but I feel like a brand new teacher this year with switching school districts and teaching a new grade. They are so funny and cute, which makes each day worth it. Recently we interactively wrote a letter to the desk fairy. The kids were so excited when the desk fairy wrote them back. My kids were so happy to hear that the desk fairy was going to the tooth fairy's birthday party next week. Let me just say that their desks are spotless every single day!

My birthday was on Monday, Molly's birthday was yesterday, and James's birthday is this coming Wednesday. We are going to celebrate this weekend.

I'll post pictures soon.

Hanging in There

James and I had several conversations about children this weekend. We were prepared for two and it is hard to go from thinking you are going to have two children very soon to not knowing what the future holds. We are researching different options but sometimes it feels like we are still going to bring the twins home. It feels like we have been through so much the past few years and the adoption has really shown us that you never know what life will bring. Things are still tender and whenever we think about it we just feel so heartbroken. It's hard to believe that things ended the way they did. Especially when we think about how everything worked out so perfectly for us at the beginning; like it was mean to be.

We are looking into other adoption choices but it is difficult to think about the adoption path without thinking of negative outcomes. I know there are so many orphaned children worldwide but there is also so much money involved with adoptions. It's scary. The Vietnam adoption program was one of the most expensive yet the country is full of poverty. It doesn't make sense. We did get most of our country fee refunded (x2) but if we had completed the adoptions, I wonder where the money would have gone? How do you find a program that isn't full of corruption or greed when so much money is involved?

We are going to spend plenty of time researching all country options. We still want to adopt and believe that it can be a wonderful experience.

Working for the Weekends

Last weekend was full of great moments...

New adventures (a few falls) on the NEW mountain bike

A nice mountain run

A party in the dog park

A cool mud bath

A Sunday spent chillin in the park

Squirrel banter

Laziness... Need I say more??!!!!

Yay, it's Friday again!