Ribar Adoption Adventure

We've moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:06:00 +0000

I set up a new blog at Wordpress. The address is filipinobambino.wordpress.com. It has all of our past posts imported, as well as all of your past comments. Please join us over there in reading about our adventures with Ezekiel, our Filipino Bambino!!

Our Referral Story

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Alright, I need to get this all down before I forget it all...

On Monday, July 14 around 3:15 pm, my cell phone rang. I was at work and didn't recognize the number (why I didn't have HIH's number saved to my phone is beyond me. Anyway...), so I didn't pick it up since I was at work. About 15 minutes later my office phone rings, and when I answered, Dave was on the line. He said, "Rach, are you sitting down? Karin (from our adoption agency) just called me". Okay, two thoughts ran through my head in the split second before he broke the news. The first was, "I know why she called, we are getting our fingerprints renewed soon and we just sent the paperwork in for that". And my second thought was, "If he is calling to say we got our referral, then that is a mean, cruel joke. We have another year of waiting. It's not like Dave to be mean like that". Yep, that was all thought in a split second.

Then he says, "We got our referral. We have a son! His name is Ezekiel!!" I answered by saying, "No... no... no we didn't. No we didn't! What???" When Dave started telling me details about our son I started crying. I just couldn't believe it, and I was in such shock. He asked me to call Karin so that we could conference call all together. I told him I wanted to do it in private, so I was going to go out to my car and call her. I shut the lid on my laptop, left my snack and paperwork sitting on my desk and bolted out of there. As I was running out, I was crying and the receptionist looked at me funny. I just shot her a half smile and kept on going.

I got in my car and called Karin. She answered her phone and said, "Happy Birthday, Mama!!!!" Ah, this is by far the best birthday present I ever could have imagined. We got Dave patched into the phone call and she proceeded to read us the 10-page fax she got with all of Ezekiel's information on it. I tried to write down as much as I could, even though I knew she would send the information to us by fax that day. My mind kept racing. She told us that we would hopefully get a picture the next day (Tuesday).

After Karin finished telling us the info and celebrating with us over the phone, she hung up and Dave and I stayed on together to talk. We were both in complete disbelief, and I kept starting to cry as the impact of what I just found out hit me. Our lives were turning upside down, and it was the best feeling in the world!! It's what we've been wanting for years now. While we were talking, Dave told me the story of how he found out...

(Rewind to 3:16 pm) After Karin tried to call me, she called Dave. He picked up the phone and she said, "Hey Dave! This is Karin." He wondered why she was calling her, and his stomach dropped as he thought maybe it was the referral, but quickly squashed that thought, knowing it was months out from now. She said, "I realized it was Rachel's birthday on Friday and I wanted to wish her a happy birthday!" With that, she started crying, then said, "Okay, I can't hold it in any longer - You guys got a referral!!!! I was trying to get ahold of Rachel and wanted to tell you both together".

While Dave and I were talking, he told me that he (oops) spilled the beans to my dad. I was a little disappointed, but it cracked me up that he couldn't keep his excitement in when he was trying to get ahold of me. We decided that we wanted to drive to each of our family members' houses tonight (except the ones who live far away) to tell them. We met up with each other in the parking lot of the hospital in my parents' town so that we could finally see each other and celebrate with each other in person. As soon as he got out of the car we hugged and grinned at each other. Dave grabbed my hands and we started jumping up and down in a circle (we're dorks, we know :) Then we drove to my parents' house to tell my mom and grandparents.

Karin had faxed us E's information, and the cover page said, "It's a BOY!!!!" So that was what we used to surprise people. My favorite reaction was my younger sister C. She lives in the same town as my parents, so after we told my mom, we drove to where she was. I kept her talking on the phone so that she wouldn't leave before we got there. Thank God my sister is a talker. I just let her talk. I don't think I could have held a conversation since I was so excited about telling her the news!! We pulled up into the driveway and I said, "Hey C, you should come outside right now". She came out and I held up the sign as she walked toward me. She freaked out and started screaming/crying/hip hip hooraying, then hugged me and we started jumping up and down for joy while we were hugging. She was so happy to finally be an auntie and to be getting a nephew, as she has 2 little girls. We called her fiance to tell him the news, and I filled them both in on the story of how we found out. She just kept crying and smiling and exclaiming how excited she was, and how surprised she was as well.

We proceeded to drive all the way over to Dave's parents, who also had a great reaction. I called them on our way up to thank them for my birthday present (and to secretly make sure they were home). They had just finished supper and were relaxing, so I got off the phone with them and we continued on our way. We got there about 45 minutes later and knocked on the door. We heard them say, "Oh! How nice! Dave and Rachel are here! I wonder why?" As they answered the door, we walked in with our sign. Dave shouted, "We got our referral! It's a boy!" They were so surprised, and wanted to get some champagne to celebrate, but we let them know we were trying to get to the rest of Dave's siblings yet that night. We told them a lot of what we knew about Ezekiel's story, and had a great time celebrating with them.

It was great fun telling Dave's family that they were getting a new addition to the family. I only wish we could have told our nephew J - he is on a camping trip for 3 weeks in the mountains. I have to say he is my favorite teenager, such a cool guy. I can't wait to tell him the news when he gets back.

After we got home, we quick went over to our BFF/neighbors' house - Aaron and Nikki. He had gotten a tattoo that weekend, so we wanted to see it, and of course surprise them with the news. We walked in all non-chalant and listened to Aaron tell us about the tattoo. They were about to tell us another story about their weekend when I said, "Wait, before you start your story I have a quick question for you - how tall is Sam?" They told me and then I said, "Oh, well OUR son, Ezekiel? He's 29 inches tall!!" Then we held up our sign and they stared in disbelief for a split second before screaming and hugging us (we woke Sammy up, oops). My favorite part was that while I was hugging Nikki I told her that Ezekiel is almost exactly 2 weeks younger than Sam. She started crying even more then and praising God. We are so amazed at His goodness!!

We got our picture of him on Tuesday, and fell absolutely head over heels in love with the face of this little boy we already loved from his paperwork. I just wish I could post his picture for the world to see, but due to Hague Convention laws, I can't post his picture until we have him home with us forever. But if I see you, I can promise you that I'll have his little picture out of my purse to show you before you can say, "Filipino Bambino".

New Name

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:57:00 +0000

So I'm considering switching over to Word.press because I like some of their features, but I want a new name to go with the new blog. And ideas on a good name? I want the name to encompass our life, rather than just the adoption. Plus, I don't want it to have our names in the address. My creative juices are sapped, since I can't get my mind off of this sparkly little peanut I get to call my son.

Let me know in the comments what you think the new name should be!

REFERRAL!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:50:00 +0000

On Monday July 14th, Dave and I received the referral for a healthy 15-month old boy. His name is Ezekiel. We have a son!!!

I'll blog more later, for now I'm savoring this feeling (and frantically writing lists of what needs to get done in the next 4-6 months)!

Oh, I'll do a new poll now. We were all wrong on the last one!! I didn't even make my birthday an option for how soon we would get our referral. So vote on the right-hand side, and let us know when you think we'll bring E home to stay!

Birthday wishes

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:11:00 +0000

I have to give out some awards from the birthday wishes I received this weekend (thank you to everyone who sent wishes for a great day - I'll blog about how fun it was in a minute)...

Longest birthday song - Nikki and Aaron Petersen

Cutest: (in a tie with G's b-day song below) Nephew E singing Happy Birthday over the phone, then yelling P-U at the end of the song!

Most hilarious - Gale and Jeanne - Dave's parents (read below)

Most embarassing - Dad (read below)

Sweetest - Grandpa coming up the stairs and saying "Happy Birthday Rachel!" in a sing-song voice. If you know my grandpa, you can hear it in your head and know it sounds sweet :)

More funnies - Dave forgetting it was my birthday until I reminded him that morning; Dave and my dad planning out a birthday surprise (and me hearing every word of the conversation); and Melissa's Facebook Happy Birthday song to me (stating who was singing it)

So I woke up that morning, and Dave was downstairs watching the news. I went about getting ready, thinking it was strange that he wasn't coming upstairs to make a big deal about my birthday (we do entire birthday weekends for each other, we love birthdays that much). He came up about 15 minutes later and sat on the bed while I finished getting ready, talking to me about his day. I finally said, "Are you forgetting something?" And he yelled, "Omigosh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I'm just spacing out this morning!" Made me laugh (a little).

Then, as I was walking into work I noticed that the receptionist smiled at me a little extra as I walked in and asked, "How is YOUR day going today????" I just smiled and said "Great!" As I rounded the corner into my office, people were coming out of our office area grinning at me. I walked through the doorway and saw this:
Ah the joys of working with your dad... At least the consensus was that everyone thinks I am 2.5 years younger than I actually am (yes, my dad made a spreadsheet with the results - crazy man). So yay that I still look young for my age!

We went out for lunch as a team to one of my fave restuarants - Bakers Square (what can I say? I love pie!). Dave "surprised" me by showing up at the restaurant. Here is how it went down - my dad was talking on the phone (we are two offices away from each other), and I heard him say my name. Of course my ears perked up (who's wouldn't?!). So I heard him say, "Rach will be so surprised... That's a great idea... How are we going to get a table big enough without her finding out?... Ooo, good idea... Okay, you call and tell her you can't come to lunch!... See you there..." I was nearly peeing my pants giggling. It took all I had not to laugh when Dave called to tell me he couldn't come to lunch, and I had to pretend to be sad. When Dave walked into the restaurant later, I fessed up and my dad said, "But I was in the corner of my office hunched over, I didn't think you could hear me!!" That made me laugh even harder!

Then for supper we (and a lot of my fam) went and tried a new restaurant in my hometown - Richards. It had AWESOME food, and great wine! A friend of mine from high school helped open it, so he was working that night and was excited to see us, which made it even more fun. The atmosphere was phenomenal, and we all had a great time.

After supper we played cards with my parents and grandparents (another one of my favorite things to do!), and then drove home. On the way home I listened to The Longest Birthday Song Ever (see above) by Aaron and Nik, and listened to this message from my in-laws:

FIL: (sings birthday song) ...Happy Birthday, sweetie! We love you! J, want to say happy birthday?
(long pause)
MIL: Is it still on? (shuffling noises)
FIL (mishearing her question in the background): Well no, I left it on for you. Aren't you going to leave a message?
MIL (confused by his answer): Well yeah, you already hung up!
(incoherent discussion over whether or not the phone got hung up)
MIL: Oh well, apparently... (click, then dial tone)

On Saturday I got a "Rachel Day"!! These are my fave - Dave leaves for a few hours and I just get the house to myself, and I get to relax, read, watch tv, etc. It was so nice. Then in the afternoon/evening we tried to get to a movie, but missed it by a few minutes, so we decided to go to IKEA. Dave was in the mood to start decorating the kids' room (yay!!), or at least get some ideas. We had lots of fun walking through there, taking measurements, and we even bought some bedding for our kiddos that was on crazy discount.

After IKEA, we thought we'd check to see what time the later movies started at the cheap theater. We got there with plenty of time, so we decided to go see Baby Mama. I thought it was HILARIOUS!! We both laughed so hard through the movie, and were surprised at how well written it was. After the movie we went home, and played more card games. Today was church, and then more relaxing. I'm currently procrastinating. I mean, it's my last week of class EVER (no MBA for me, thankyouverymuch), what better thing to do but procrastinate more than ever this week?!?

Happy Birthday, Uncle Rachel

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:41:00 +0000

Yep, today is my birthday!! I am the big 2-8 today. Last year at this time, we were getting ready for our home study on Friday the 13th. I can't believe it's been a year since then!!

Isn't niece G just about the cutest thing you've ever seen? I love her little pursed lips :)

Storms

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I'm working from home today, so I usually have the television on in the background and mostly pay attention to the news when the weather comes on (my favorite part!). Today I heard them saying that storms were heading toward Carver County. I looked out the window and noticed that it was a cloudy, but not scary cloudy. Then I stepped out onto the deck and turned around to look northwest. Holy cowsers!! It was super dark, greenish-purple. I took pictures of the difference between the views from my house, but it doesn't do the storm much justice.

The air felt calm, but about 2 minutes later, the wind came up so fast that all of the garbage cans from the neighborhood flew out onto the county road, and I couldn't even see the dealership across the street with the sheets of rain coming down. The wind sounded pretty scary, so I headed downstairs with Gus (who is definitely NOT afraid of storms, he wanted to play fetch). The hail started in, and the lightning was bright and close with loud thunder cracks and rumbles following immediately behind. Dave called and the weather sirens were going off where he was working, so he and his brother headed over to the gas station. As I was talking to him the power went in and out there. I told him there were straight-line winds, and that's why the sirens were going off (that's what the news lady said). I LOVE watching stormy weather come in. I think that if I loved school more, I would love to go back to become a meteorologist. Oh well, maybe they'll need stormchasers out our way and I can do training for that :) Fun fun!

The Weekend (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:03:00 +0000

On Saturday I studied for a little while in the morning (not successfully, though), while Dave vegged out on the couch in front of my parents' television. They get cable, and we decided we didn't want to pay for cable, so Dave LOVES watching his HGTV, History Channel and Discovery down there. We headed into the theater to watch a matinee showing of Wall-e. It was sooooo cute! I really liked the storyline. We both give it two thumbs up to any kid or adult that wants to see it.

After the movie, we headed over to meet an old high school friend of mine for supper. That way our husbands would both know someone else at the reunion, and we wouldn't have to show up at the reunion alone. It was nice sitting and chatting with them, and catching up on life since high school. We headed over to the park where the reunion was being held, and I felt super awkward. I suddenly felt like I didn't recognize anyone, and couldn't conjure up names when I would see someone I should have known. Then 2 people asked me, "And who are you?" And I felt much better :) I guess I've changed a lot more than I thought since high school. I'll let y'all compare: Here is my 7th grade picture and my 11th grade picture (and you can scroll down to see my current day pictures).

Yep, I had a shaved head and a comb on my head for my 11th grade pictures. Boy I made my parents proud...

(photos courtesy of Lifetouch)

At the reunion I talked with a few people, and there were probably about 40-50 of our classmates there. I was most looking forward to the people I hadn't seen since high school, and there were a few of those people there. It was fun catching up with people, and every single person we told about the adoption was excited for us and had lots of questions. That was lots of fun :)

After the reunion there was a street dance downtown, so we headed down there and saw even more people from different graduating years from both my high school AND Dave's high school. We laid low and sat to the side with Jonny, and various people would walk by and sit to chat with us. It was fun to people watch and try to remember the names of people with Jonny. I ended up talking for a long time with a guy I hadn't seen since high school, but had known since 1st grade. It was so nice to sit and talk with him, and he was so encouraging about the adoption and how much fun parenting is. It was a good night, and although there were more people I would have loved to see at the reunion, I enjoyed catching up with those who were there.

Today we drove home mid-morning and napped almost all day. We were so tired out from the weekend. Tonight my parents drove up and we went to a bbq for a friend of my sister, Elyssia. We walked in and saw some other good friends from our old church with their new baby whom we hadn't met yet. It was a fun evening filled with good food, more catching up with people, and lots of laughter.

I should head off to study now. As the days get closer and closer to the end of this class, I find less and less motivation to actually DO the homework. I'll just keep repeating to myself - "Cs get degrees. Cs get degrees..."

The Weekend (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Wow, I'm pooped out, and I'm only halfway through our weekend o' fun. Here is how the weekend has gone so far:

Thursday night we played card games with my grandparents and aunt and uncle until Carissa called to see if Dave and I wanted to go to a dance in town. This weekend is an all-school reunion weekend in town (along with my 10-year reunion). Dave and I got there and it was a bit surreal to see all of these people I remember from high school - some older, some younger, and quite a few from my class. I laid low and talked with just a few people. I was told by one girl that if her mom hadn't pointed me out, she never would have recoginized me because I look so different. That's the second time I've been told that in 6 months, so I asked her what it was that was different. She told me I finally don't look like a baby anymore. I had laugh, because she's right, even when I was shopping for my wedding 6 years ago, there was a woman asking me if I was shopping for prom. hee hee. I don't get asked that anymore :)

Friday morning we woke up bright and early for the 5k walk/run. We got to the park to register and pick up our super cool teeshirts. We all lined up at the starting line with the 8Kers in front of the 5Kers. They explained a couple of things, then shot the gun to signal the race had begun. I ran for a good portion of the beginning of the race, then walked for a while until my mom caught up to me. Then we alternated walking and running for the rest of the race. As we passed our friend Rick's house, Jon, Suze and Rick all came out to cheer us on :) That was so much fun. Then as we finished the race, the people who had already finished the 8k (crazy fast runners) were lined up along the road cheering the rest of us on. It gave me a huge boost to run really fast to the end. I came in at 41.10 minutes. My mom came in right after me, and we were the 4th and 5th persons to finish the 5k (because most of the people walked it). My dad and Dave walked the course, and came in at 48 minutes.

Dave and I being dorks with our matching outfitsAt 10 am we headed into the parade. Now I've been keeping a secret for almost a month about what was going to happen at this parade, and here is some video about that secret:

(sorry for the turning of the camera in the middle of the filming - oops)

Congratulations, Rich and Carissa!!!! We're so excited for you guys, and thrilled that you have found such a great match in one another.

After the parade, we had a bbq lunch with my family, decorated cupcakes with the girlies, and then I finally crashed and took a 2-hour nap. I was exhausted from the day, and didn't even wake up with people coming in and out of my room. Then we headed out to the lake to meet up with our friends, Jon and Suze, and Rick. Rick taught Gus to swim (thank you, Rick!!!), and it was so fun/ny watching Gus play in the water with Rick. He would bounce through the water at times like a deer, and we would all laugh at him. It was such a nice, mellow, relaxing evening. These are the days and evenings I dream about all winter long.

At 10 pm, we headed in to Carissa's house and watched the fireworks with my grandparents, my parents, Carissa, Rich and Madelyn. Madelyn kept her ears plugged the whole time, and Bampa (my dad) would follow her wherever she wanted to go to get a better view of the fireworks. When we got home we played more cards with my dad and my aunt and uncle, then headed off to bed.

The rest of the weekend promises to be fun. Today we are going to Wall-e with Madelyn, Carissa and Rich, and then my 10-year reunion is tonight. We're meeting up with a friend who I haven't seen since high school and her husband beforehand so our husbands will know at least one other person at the reunion. I'm excited to see people and catch up with them! Then tomorrow night we are going to a bbq back up in Waconia to see my sister Elyssia's good good friend Heather. Fun stuff!!

Owie

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:34:00 +0000

So I'm set to do a walk/run 5k on Friday morning. I'm looking forward to checking out what a 5k is all about so I'll be ready for the real run in September. But then I went and did something stupid tonight - I went on a walk in flip flops. My shins are killing me now, and I'm kind of nervous that they are going to really hurt on Friday. If that's the case, I'll need a wheelchair to get to the parade. Dave the Kind Husband is getting me some frozen veggies to ice my legs now :) He's so nice. At least we had a grand old time on the walk, though. We went with our neighbor BFFs to get coffee, and the store was closed. So we went to the ice cream shop, and the store was closed. So we called our awesome friends from church - Jane and Larry - and stopped by their house to chat with them and get our fill of hugs. I love our town and our neighbors and our friends. So I guess it's a good thing I locked in to a refinance today...

Insightful Dave

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:25:00 +0000

The other day I was talking with Dave about how hard the wait has been in the past couple of weeks. He had some great insight. At nine months, a normal pregnant woman is either giving birth, or has her bags packed and ready to go to the hospital. Dave told me that my heart has been "pregnant" for 9 months, ever since we got our approval. Now it's trying to figure out why in the heck I don't have a baby yet. I thought that was pretty interesting, and thinking about it more, I think he's probably right. Karin calling us with the news of our approval was like getting a positive pregnancy test for us, and now 9 months later my heart is wondering where my child(ren) are at. I thought that was pretty insightful of Dave.

On a funny note, this weekend Gus followed his big cousin-dog, Roger all weekend long. He only laid down if Roger was laying down, sat if Roger was sitting, etc. We decided to go to breakfast with everyone in my parents' van on Sunday morning, and Gus needed to come along so he wouldn't get into all kinds of trouble at my brother's house. Dave put Gus on his lap since the van was full, and I looked over and saw this at one point:

He opened his eyes when I took the picture, but he was laying his head on Dave's shoulder and sleeping. Totally cracked me up. What a crazy dog :)

I wish I had taken before and after pictures at my brother and sister-in-law's house this weekend. We got soooo much done. I kept leaving my camera in the hotel room, so I didn't get any pictures. You can take my word for it... We cleaned, packed, primed, painted and put studs/walls/doors up like it was going out of style. It was a lot more fun doing all of the work together, and hopefully we gave them some motivation to finish up.

9 months down...

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:08:00 +0000

So it is the 30th once again, and we celebrate another month behind us in this crazy little waiting game. Maybe it's just because I am tired from a long weekend of hard work, but the number 9 just looks so tiny, and it makes me feel sad today. When I see numbers like 17 and still no referral, it's hard to imagine that our referral is out there somewhere. Sorry, this is supposed to be a celebratory post, but this week has been a tough week for waiting.

It all started last Saturday (not this past one but the one before). I babysat my nieces, and when I was driving home afterward, I just started feeling down. I got home and was trying to study, but started reading blogs. I clicked on my friend Renee's blog, and heard the most beautiful song. If you click on the link over Renee's name you can hear the song. I had heard it before, but never listened to the words. The song is "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks. There is one line that says, "You can close your eyes when you're miles away And hear my voice like a serenade", then the chorus is, "How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough, is forever enough? How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough? Cause I'm never, never giving you up". I just sat there and cried and cried. I know our time will come, and it will be even better than I could have imagined, and this wait will be a distant memory. But I just felt sad. All week was kind of up and down. I'd be happy and content, and then something would trigger the sadness I feel about waiting for my children. Today the trigger was seeing how small that number 9 looks. One happy thing is that from here on out we'll have only double digits for our monthiversary of waiting.

The Accidental Adoption

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:16:00 +0000

Wife: Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.

Husband: What is it?

Wife: Well, I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just come out with it. I went out to the mailbox today and . . . well, we got an I-171H.

Husband: A what?!?! An U.S. Immigration I-171H adoption approval form?! As in, we’re going to have another baby?!?

Wife: It looks that way.

Husband: But how? We’ve been so careful! I put away all the blank I-600A forms. Didn’t you hide our home-study?

Wife: Of course I did. But don’t forget, there was that one night . . .

Husband: What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn’t print clearly. I didn’t even use black ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun. (giggles)

Wife: It was, wasn’t it? I’ll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints taken.

Husband: So now we’ve got our I-171H, eh? But that doesn’t always mean you’ll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn’t you see the agency or something, make sure everything’s okay?

Wife: I already did. I’m five documents along.

Husband: Five documents!

Wife: And they’re all notarized, certified, state sealed and authenticated! There was just one small scare when the agency couldn’t see the notary’s middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.

Husband: Thank goodness! And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?

Wife: I’m feeling fine. As long as I know you’re happy about this.

Husband: Happy? I’m thrilled! It’s always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I’m happy.

Better night

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:03:00 +0000

Last night in class was better yet. I got my journal article review back, and got top marks for it Woot. Then at break the prof pulled me aside and told me how much she enjoyed reading my review. She said she could tell I liked reading the article and felt passionate about it. The article was about the stay-at-home-parent vs. working parent dilemma. I used to have strong views that it's important for the parent to work outside of the home, and was very against home schooling. My views have changed as we get closer and closer to becoming parents, and I see people/families who do well on both ends of the spectrum. It's not that I feel like I will ever home school my children (maybe Dave has the patience for that?), but I'm not so against to whole stay-at-home parent thing. My last sentence was something like, "As long as the time parents spend with their children is quality time, and they appreciate, love and grow with their children, either decision can be the right one". She really liked that part :)

Anyway, I also had another test in class last night, and got a much better score on this one. Yay! I think it helped that the test was at 8 pm, and not 10 pm like last week. Last week I was closing one eye to try and read the words in the test I was so tired! The other fun part about last night was when a couple of the ladies in class started asking about the adoption, and one of them started jumping up and down and clapping her hands in excitement for us. I feel like doing that all the time, so I appreciated her reaction! I love answering questions about the adoption, and could talk about it all day and all night. I hate overwhelming the people around me with too much adoption talk, so when I meet a new person who is excited I tend to talk about it quite a bit.

This weekend we are heading up to help my brother and sister-in-law get their house ready to put on the market, and pack up their house. They are moving to God's country - Northern Minnesota - in order to be closer to work. Gus will be coming with us, as he idolizes my brother's dog, Roger. It is always fun to watch Gus try to entice Roger in a game of chase or tug-of-war.

My fave movie

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:50:00 +0000

Thanks all, for taking my poll on the right of the blog ------->

And the correct answer is....... Dazed and Confused, with Juno coming in at a close second. I have loved Dazed and Confused since Robin and I watched it over and over again in high school. It never gets old. Watching the t.v. version makes me giggle even more - "Did you know that your mom pulled a shotgun on my butt?" Hee hee, you'd have to be there with me in order to giggle at that last comment, right Robs? I guess you all know me pretty well :) I thought V for Vendetta was alright, but I've NEVER seen Star Wars (any of them). Dave is ashamed of this, and wants to "fix me" by having a Star Wars marathon weekend, but so far we haven't done it.

Once this darn class is over, I am planning on going back to doing our Cheapie Tuesday Movie Nights. July 17th can't come soon enough!!! I'll post all about the movies we see once we start doing that again. I plan on writing a post about how cheap night at the theater brings out the crazies in people. It's a goodie...

Hilarious Gracie

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Okay, so I guess my blogging break hasn't been so much of a break yet. I have one more story to tell, and this one is a goodie (and funny)...

On Wednesday, I drove to my parents' house to pick up Gus (he stays in his cage there while we work), and wait for Dave. As I pulled into the driveway, I was delighted to see my sister and her two girls (Grace -2, Madelyn -4) had pulled in right before me. After getting hugs and kisses from both of the girls, we decided to go jump on the trampoline with my mom (their nana). Once we finished jumping on the trampoline, we went exploring in the neighbor's field. We kept hearing a donkey HEE HAWing down the gravel road from us (the other neighbors have a petting zoo with a donkey, pygmie goats, etc.). All of a sudden the donkey bray got a little louder, and Grace starts screaming and begging Nana to pick her up - "Nana, I hold you! I hold you!" As soon as my mom picked her up Grace says,

"I scared of elephants."

Hee hee. I LOVE her! I told her that it was a donkey, not an elephant. She turned to me super seriously and said, "I scaaaaaared of donkeys" in a deeper voice. So cuuuuuute! So it sounds like we are going to be taking a trip to the neighbors' petting zoo one of these days so Gracie can see that donkeys aren't scary. But Gus will tell you that if you try to play-wrestle with them or the pygmie goats, they will kick your patootie across the pasture :)

Letting go of perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Today was awful. I work from home 1-2 days per week, and while I'm in class for the next few weeks I'm doing this on Thursdays so that I can work, as well as study/write papers. It works well for me to do that, as I like the change of pace it provides. Well, today I didn't end up getting any of my work work done, just school work. And I'm currently saving up all of my vacation time to see my sister in July, so I can't take it as a vacation day either. I wouldn't have been so frustrated with that if the rest of the night hadn't happened...

The lecture wasn't bad. I'm beginning to like the prof more. However, here is what was frustrating. We started class tonight with the prof asking how everyone did with the homework assignments and studying for the test. Out of the 8 people in the class, at least 6 different people said that they didn't get all or any of the homework done for the week - just studying. I didn't even REALIZE this was an option, so I worked my TAIL off this week (and took an unpaid day off) to get the work done. I calculated that I worked on homework for at least 20 hours this week. So I pretty much did everything halfway in order to get it all done (I was going to write half-assed, but didn't. Now I did). I did badly (in my eyes) on the test tonight. In fact, I got the same 2 questions wrong that I had gotten wrong on the quiz last week!

The more frustrating part of this whole thing is that I'm the ONLY person in this class not taking the class as an education major. I'm taking the class as an elective. I just feel like I'm the only one who took it all seriously this week, and for what? The only good thing about me turning in my papers tonight is that the prof will grade them, comment on them, and send them back to me so I can re-write them. However, she said she would do that for anyone that turned in their papers before the last class. Blah.

I'm just frustrated tonight - with the class, my classmates, but mostly with myself. I know I'll get over it soon enough. I just had to vent. Dad, thanks for letting me cry on the phone tonight, even if sometimes you don't understand what I'm saying because I get the high cry-ey voice. In all of my previous business and management classes, I got straight As. For 2.5 years of going to evening school, I got As. As of tonight, I currently have a C average in this class. I'm learning to let go of perfection, and realize that a C will still get me my degree.

A bit of a break...

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:18:00 +0000

I'm currently taking a class to fulfill the remaining 3 credits I need to get my diploma. YES, I walked in graduation nearly 14 months ago with the expectation that I would finish up these remaining credits lickety-split, but then life happened. I could choose any class I wanted to at the college, so I chose Early Childhood Development. It's an education course, but a starter course for the other education courses, so I thought it would be pretty easy to follow, and give me good lessons on raising our kids. What I didn't expect was to have 6 papers due every week, along with 2-3 chapters to read in the textbook each week. I honestly never had this much homework, even in my senior level business classes. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with it all right now.

All that said, I'm going to be writing more sporadically on the blog until the class is over (July 10th - I can't wait for that day to get here!!). And then I'll finally get my diploma. Lots of people take 10 years and 6 different colleges to get their degree, right?

Update: Ugh. I just looked at the calendar again, and because of the July 4th holiday, my class isn't over until July 17th. Looks like I'll be studying on my birthday!

Happy Belated Belated Father's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Dave with his new "old man" remote. The large buttons are easier to see with his aging eyes. Hee hee, thanks Riss and Ditch!

I celebrated Dave this weekend, and the father he is going to be. I made him cookies, rented movies, got his favorite foods - all of the good stuff :) Not only did I celebrate Dave, but my family did too, and it meant so much to Dave. He said the same thing that I felt on Mother's Day this year - it feels more real now that we have a light at the end of the tunnel. We know for a fact that we are going to be parents, and it feels so fun to celebrate that!

The funny part of the weekend is that I'd been saying "Happy Father's Day" to Dave all weekend. But not until another father said it to him at church on Sunday did it really hit him. HE is the father being celebrated on this day (or father-to-be in our case). He said it felt really surreal to hear people saying father, and not be talking about his dad!

I love Dave for the father I know he's going to be. I can't wait for him to:
-plant flowers, plants, fruits and veggies with our children.
-show them the difference between a weed and a plant (because Lord knows I still don't know after years of my mom and Dave trying to show me).
-cuddle with them, and shower them with big hugs and kisses.
-hold their little hands in his big man hands.
-make silly faces and voices to get them to laugh.
-run around with them outside and show them how to play fun games, toss baseballs around, throw a football...
-read them Bible stories using different voices.
-answer their endless (and sometimes hilarious) questions the best he can, especially the ones about Jesus and faith - kids ask the most amazing questions about all of that!
-freak out if/when they break his glasses for the first time.
-embarass them like crazy when they are teenagers.
-sing songs with them.
-be the amazing father that I know he is going to be, and watch him grow and learn from our kids!

Happy (belated belated) Father's Day, Dave! And Happy Father's Day to all the other dads out there (especially you waiting dads)!!

Lunch break survey

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:05:00 +0000

I looooove these surveys - always have, just ask my sisters! My friend Jonny posted his answers to this on MySpace. You should all fill this out too and e-mail it back to me (my e-mail is on my profile page) or put it on your blog.

Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes.
Where were you last night? At class. my last class before I'll finally get my diploma! Woot.
What is today's date? 6/13/08
Who was the last person to call you baby/babe? Dave
When you're at the grocery store do you use the self checkout? Yes. I avoid dealing with people while I'm running errands at all times.
Anyone crushing on you? Dave. He's had a crush on me for a long time.
What is your relationship status? Married.
Has anyone ever sang to you? Yes. Dave sings to me sometimes, and my Gran sings crazy songs to me that make me laugh... "Good morning to you!! Good morning to you!!! We're all in our places with bright smiling faces. And this is the waaa-aay to start a new day".
Has anyone ever given you roses? Yep.
If you were abandoned in the wilderness, would you survive? No. No question about it.
Who do you text the most? Probably my sister Carissa or her Ditch.
How do you make your money? Working for the weekend. Everybody's doing it.
First person to text today? Google to get the number for a Chinese restaurant in Chaska.
What is your favorite color? All of them. I like rainbows. My favorite changes often. Right now it's green.
What color are your eyes? Blue.
What is a compliment you receive often? That I have a nice smile.
How tall are you? 5 feet 6 inches.
Who was the last person to say they loved you and when? My dad on the phone a couple of hours ago. We sang to him with Aaron and Nik to cheer his day up :) He actually said he loves all of us.
Do you like your parents? Yup
Do you secretly like someone? It's no secret... Dave's a hottie.
Why did your last relationship end? Um, the one before I met Dave? He was a piece of work. Yikes. He was a meanie.
Who was the last person you said you loved on the phone? My dad (see previous answer).
Where is the furthest place you've traveled? France
Which do you prefer, to eat or sleep? sleep - I looooooooove sleeping.
Do you look more like your mom or your dad? My sisters.
How long does it take you to shower? Anywhere between 7-9 minutes.
Can you do splits? No.
Are you flexible? Yes - especially compared to Dave.
What did you do on New Years Eve? I am pretty sure we had fried food New Years with Aaron and Nik. And the year before was Engagement Weekend in Tofte (yay :))
Was your mom there? No, but she's a hoot (her favorite way to describe someone funny)
Can you speak any other language than English? Some French and some sign language
What is the last letter of your middle name? e
How many hours of sleep did you get last night? 6 - not enough
Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Yes
Are you scared of flying? No, I really love flying. We'll see how I feel after a trip to Manila and back!!
What do you sleep in? A tank top and undies. And every time I go to bed, and pray to God there isn't a natural disaster while I'm sleeping so I'd have to run around in that get up.
Do you like funny people or serious people? A good mix of both.
What are you listening to? Dave watching tv.
What jewelry do you wear all the time? My wedding ring. I'm allergic to all other kinds of metal. Wah wah. I don't even take my ring off to shower!
Is the last person you kissed older than you? Yes - I married a silver fox. Just kidding, Dave will never go gray. His grandpa still has dark hair!
Do you prefer myspace or socialsplash? What in the heck is socialsplash?
Do you have a favorite item of clothing? Jeans that make my legs look long and lean. I also love hoodie sweatshirts. I sleep in those when I'm sick especially.
Do you like messages or comments better? Either - I love hearing from people!!!
Last movie you saw in theaters? Definitely, Maybe (I think).
Last thing you ate? Chinese food. I'm hungry again and it's only been 3 hours. Darn Chinese food.
What was last thing you drank? A raspberry Smirnoff Ice.
Are you happy right now? Yep!
If you could have one thing right now what would it be? No question - 2 babies from the Philippines.
Who makes you happiest right now? Dave. And Gus when he's naughty in really funny ways (I'll blog about that later)
What were you doing at midnight last night? Tossing and turning. I can never sleep after I get home from class so late.
Are you left handed? No.
What was for dinner tonight? Chinese food.
What is the last thing you thought about? My child(ren) in the Philippines - they are always on my mind.
When is your birthday? July 11
Do you want to get married & have children one day? One down, one to go :)

My ears are shriveling up...

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:55:00 +0000

The company we are consulting for right now has really been cracking down on Facebook/Myspace/Youtube visits during the work day. They've blocked those sites. That's fine with me. I stay busy at work, and usually just check these in the evening or on weekends anyway. I, however, cannot get through my work day without music playing on my computer. It motivates me when a good song comes on that makes me smile. Well today I tried logging into my Pan.dora Radio, and it was blocked. I tried Ya.hoo Radio - blocked. I tried all of the local stations I like listening to - blocked, blocked and blocked. Grrr. So I had a quiet day in the office with only the noise of my fingers clicking away on my keyboard to keep me company. :( - This is me pouting.

Darn rain

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:10:00 +0000

I was all set to start my running regimen back up today, and then we sat through a long series of tornado watches and thunderstorm warnings with our neighbor BFFs Aaron and Nikki. At one point we were in their basement waiting and wondering if we would need to hunker down in their laundry room. I love scary weather, but I also respect scary weather and always have my plan: know where to go wherever I am, put shoes on, have my purse and cell phone on me, and have lots of blankets to put over us. So anyway, tonight it's too late for me to go to the fitness center, so I'll try again tomorrow. Today I did a great job of eating well, so yay!

I started a poll on the right side of my blog. What do you all think my favorite movie is?? Once the poll closes at the end of this month I'll let you know what it is :)

Yay for Brent!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:40:00 +0000

Our brother-in-law, Brent finished his 100-mile race this weekend!!!! We're so proud of this crazy man for accomplishing this amazing feat. He came in 15th place, and you can click here to read about his experience, I was amazed to read through it!!

I've still been keeping up with my workouts and running. Thanks Cherice for the stretching tip - it really helps when I remember to do that stretch!! It's amazing. And Jenny, I had no idea you are a phy-ed teacher!! That cracks me up that you experience some girls who use the same excuses I used :) Nicole is right - it was 15 minutes that I had to run the mile in, and sometimes I still couldn't even do that!! The craziest thing?? Brent AVERAGED a 15-minute mile this weekend during his 100-mile race. Insane.

I took the night off from running last night. My dad and I calculated it, and we're pretty sure we walked over 5 miles at Valleyfair on Monday. Good times :) Maybe that zeroes out the corndog, mini donuts, onion rings and pop I had. Yikes. I have a feeling that's why I was feeling so sick yesterday. My body is wondering why in the heck I'm eating that stuff after eating better for a few months now. Well I'm back on track (as my previous post was titled, maybe I should have titled this one back on track - part 2), and now I'll get back into my running/eating regimen. I'm still on track for running the 5k in mid-September!!

New feature

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:20:00 +0000

Blogger added a new feature where I can list my blogroll and it will also show what the most recent post title of theirs is, as well as when the last time is that they posted on their blog. I can use my Google Reader to do this quickly and easily, so I thought I'd give it a try! So now you'll see it on the right side (my old blog list is still there, it's just at the bottom of the page).

Can you tell I'm sick and laying on the couch with my computer tonight?

Back on track

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:42:00 +0000

I took a little internet break over the week/end to enjoy Dave's birthday weekend with him, and get everything done that we needed to. I'll get e-mails returned and blogs read sometime this week :)

We had such a fun weekend. Dave was very surprised at his surprise party. He stood in shock inside the doorway for the first minute trying to figure out why so many of his friends and family were standing in my parents' house yelling, "SURPRISE!!" It was fun talking with him after the fact to let him in on the little lies we had to tell to keep him from finding out. We had about 30 people there for the surprise, and a few people stayed until the wee hours of the morning playing Rock.band (okay 1:00 am, but I'm old and that now feels like the wee hours of the morning). It was so much fun, and we had pretty much the best band ever.

Saturday and Sunday we were pretty worthless, and besides churchs, spent the days melted on to our respective couches with short periods of letting Gus and Porter (dog sitting for Nikki and Aaron) out for potty breaks, or yelling for them to quit barking/howling at each other. We watched a movie, and prepared the lunches for Valleyfair Day yesterday!!

Jon and Rick on drums and guitar

Valleyfair was AWESOME. It was just as fun as I've always remembered it to be. We went on as many rides as possible, and stayed there from 10:30 until 7:00. Dave's favorite new ride is the Extreme Swing, which scared the papoopie out of me - I am a big fan of shoulder harnesses and this one did NOT have them! My new favorite ride was Steel Venom. Incredibly fast and loud and fast and dangly feet and fast. LOVED it (probably because I was in a shoulder harness for that ride). Torro (my dad) lost his phone, pocket knife and some change on that ride and I lost my sunglasses on another ride. The good peeps of VF were gracious enough to retrieve our goods for us. I think they have special people who just do that all day long. Maybe they should have just followed our crew around.

I think one of my favorite parts of the day was watching our nephews walk around the park in total awe of that place. We had all split up to ride different things, but then ran into our 5-year old nephew and his dad (Dave's brother) while in the water park, so the 4 of us went on the group water ride. It was so fun!! My favorite line of the day was while we were starting out on that ride. My nephew yelled out (with a panicked look on his face), "If I throw up while I'm on this ride..." And his dad yells, "You aren't going to throw up, don't worry!" He gets some motion sickness, and Dave and I have experienced the results of his motion sickness firsthand. He ended up having a fantastic time on that ride (and not throwing up), and told me that was his favorite ride of the day! I'm sore today from all of the walking and thrill rides, but it was a super fun weekend!

The birthday boy himself (pretending to be surprised)

The birthday crew (at Picnic Cove)

Carissa and I on the Monster (I love that ride!) Aaron enjoying jello yum yums with Nikki