Neeeeew caseworker....

So, this morning at the ungoshly hour of 730ish, our house phone rang. I don't answer the house phone often as despite signing up for the non telemarketing thingamajig, they still squeak through. So, as I pryed my eyeball open from it's very sleepiness, I noticed it said "Indianapolis, Indiana" just before I quickly picked it up then hung up (so not to wake my baby but too late) on, 'the telemarketer'. Then I shot up and said, "That could be our new caseworker!" lol Thankfully he called right back.
We had a GREAT conversation and do feel the blessings of not giving up. He also called yesterday afternoon and left a message at the house (which I didn't know till a few minutes ago). That means, HE tried to call US, TWICE in a 24 hour period! I feel spoiled!! lol ;) he he. Anyway, he listened, he talked he layed it out there. I told him any tedious tasks he assigns will help us feel like we going in the right direction while he gets acclimated to Tennessee Adoptions and his new families he will be working with. It feels like it did when we started to work with Matt Watson in the beginning and that is really a great feeling. We will get to meet him to get our "Home Study" updated, in about 2 weeks (same week my sister Jenalyn and family are coming to visit but before they get here). We are grateful he is willing to come from Indiana to help us, it is so refreshing. We are praying for him to be able to get the Tennessee licensure he's requesting and for him to have ease in getting acclimated quickly with the Tennessee families he is now representing. Ahhhhhh....... It really does feel like a breath of fresh air, just in time for spring. Perfect timing. Thank you for all our kind words, thoughts and prayers. For those of you not aware of the process, although this is good news, the next steps are a little slow to getting ourselves actually 'Approved' for our next Adoption but stay with us, we know it is this way and understand it. When we are "Approved" I will post that and we can all start sending the word out more that we are 'looking for our next child' to join our family. xoxo

The morning after...

The carnage.... :D lol!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

'Cat eats T.P....'

(the bait. i put this out tonight and will show you how it looks in the morning. i GUARANTEE it will be shredded. :) he he he)

The 'innocent' kitty Oliver. I woke him up from his nap to document for the blog.

Since my friend Jacqui mentioned it, it is HIGH time for a blog post about our crazy cat Oliver and his T.P. shredding habits. :) We found Oliver as a kitten mewing at our back door, a after we moved back to Tennessee and in our house. He was the cutest kitten & has been a great adult cat (until Evan started walking that is but that's another post). So as he got bigger we would periodically find our toilet paper shredded to pieces on the roll till he started doing it EVERY day soo... We took the empty roll & wrote: 'START: CAT EATS T.P. CHECK UNDER SINK' :) lol. It's a crowd pleaser & I hope you love it too. He he he.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Adoption Process Revision

So, I feel alright about the intensity in which I pursue the things I love and believe in. I recently blogged about the adoption process whoas. When our caseworker upset me during Evan's adoption, I really admit how out of control of the situation I felt. I had to continually check with my Heavenly Father as to what to do next cause my natural reaction was horrible. I wanted to yell at him and say 'how dare you treat me this way' but instead would discuss my feelings with Michael and pray, pray, PRAY to feel the spirit until I did again. I'm sure Satan would have LOVED if I would have given up and not got to be a mother and not given Evan the parents he has. He worked really hard on me. THIS time, with the newest caseworker Robin, not returning our phone calls, I have been very calm compared. I did not feel anger this time but did feel frustration and know it's ok, as long as I don't let it overwhelm me. Since this new adventure, trying to contact Robin to renew our Adoption information, I have been praying for us to be successful in getting our paper work in. It seemed the forces were fighting against us in such an unfair way. Well... Sunday a friend/angel (MM) shed some light on the situation! We were told that as of this past Friday, "Robin" doesn't' work for the Atlanta Agency anymore! Not only that, apparently, it seems that we will now be represented by LDS Family Services in Indiana! Wow. We have not been directly told by our agency yet but when we contact them this week (hopefully), it would be great if we could get our information forwarded where it needs to go so we don't waste any time. :) We are so excited about the thought of adding to our family, we do not want to waste time looking for our child and again enlisting all of you to help us. Let's hope this information will help us on our way... soon!

I colored my hair this week & kept meaning to take pictures when I styled it well... Wouldn't you know the day I styled it, it's cloudy & rainy so you can't even see the red in the color. :/ oh well, at least you can see % finally have given myself blonde panels again after not having them for over 2 years.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Random Photos from the Month (or so)

Bought Evan this drum set for $20.00 and couldn't resist. It was totally worth it, he totally started playing right away as you saw in the video of another post but I'll post a better video on this one. In the video, he even starts trying the bass drum at the end.



Current obsession: watching DVD's of Baby Einstein while sitting or rocking in his chair. he he he. I love all these new things!



This is his hint to me that he's tired. Grabbed his blanket and sucking on his finger. melting heart...

First Sloppy Joe. lol.

Do you want a balloon? :) (playing at the Chop Shop while waiting for his friend Serif to get a Haircut)

Playing kitchen with our friend Taylor. He looks like he loves her.

Playing house with Emma (our babysitter/friend Rachel's Daughter)

Adoption frustrations

Our family is gearing up to be put back in the Adoption pool. We are feeling pulled to it again and are really motivated. We are attempting to continue with LDS Family Services but have now called and left a message for our new caseworker 3 times with no response. I cannot begin to express to you how disappointing and frustrating it is to get no response from the people who are assigned and (will be) paid to help you. We want our family to grow and Adoption is the only way for us to do that because of Infertility. Not only do we feel it's in the Lord's hands as to whether we get to have more children in our home, it is also up to our caseworkers and agency to do the right thing. I am sad to say we have had bad feelings towards the handling of Evan's Adoption process (left it out of the blog for fear that it could be misinterpreted but it was a bad time) but since his finalization it has been the pure bliss it should have been since he took his first breath. It felt bad to have those feelings and for me, it has taken me this long to let them go or to even document them in this way. I don't want to repeat that process but it is difficult to leave our agency cause we can't afford to go to another. Part of me doesn't want them to get away with ignoring us as they may do it to others. I've been really reflecting on it lately and feel this challenge was possibly even given to me, to learn from but also to push myself to confront this situation in a constructive way. Part of this post is to let you know what is going on. It feels good to type it and let some of that sadness from those old feelings go. We are praying for our agency to respond to us and for us to be patient with them but also for an adoption situation to arise when the time is right. We would love for any of you that would like to, to join us. (we also have a friend named Hallie trying to add to their family through adoption if you don't mind to add her name to you prayer). We feel blessed to have so many friends who love us and support us through our Adoption's. Hopefully we will get to have more children. Thank you for reading. xoxo

Who wants to jam? :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Fanny

Get your minds out of the gutter! ;) lol
Recently mike got busted while on his watch, evan tore up a similar type fan as shown. He vowed to replace it when I challenged hi to be able to find that kind 'just anywhere'. He came through! After a hint from me that he may find one at world market he admitted he already ordered a dozen from oriental trading company. Lol! This is the box they came in. It's huge for the tiny little box of fans. The best part is that the fans are independence day themed!!! Lol

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Curiosity got the leprechan?

Lol! Am I mean or what for capturing this? He he he

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

My secret...

Fresh Effects Invisible Solid in Cucumber Aloe! I am not kidding! I have wanted to blog about this a long time ago but just keep talking about boring ol' evan! ;) he he he. Anyway. If anyone reading this has deodorant challenges or excessive sweating (yes I just admitted "I" sweat!) you will appreciate this post....

I don't know why but in the past 10 years, I have had a horrible time sweating! To the point where I would NEVER raise my arms for the possibility of a sweat mark or STAIN! (EWE!!) Let me say as a hairstylist who blow dry's hair all day long, this is NOT ideal. So over the years, I have tried may different Antiperspirants INCLUDING a prescription deodorant (which worked but it stung to apply and I didn't feel like it was healthy). Anyway, about a year ago? or maybe even before Evan was born, I was deodorant hopping, many times after only using it 3 times and knowing it wasn't working, when I came across this:

I love it cause It smells good, does not get on my clothes, it is the best working over the counter Antiperspirant I've ever used AND it still works for me! With that said, it may stop working next week because of Murphy's law, but I will enjoy it till then. I hope this post put a smile on your face. I plan to try to post more 'consumer report' items in the future, stay tuned. :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Elder Wutkee Mission report

I have been honored to be mentioned in my friend Chesney's Blog. My brother Isaac is serving a mission in Ft. Worth TX for our church, Teaching what we believe and inviting those he teaches to be baptised. "Elders" as the boy missionaries are called, serve for 2 years without seeing family, dating, going to movies, reading news papers, watching t.v. or etc, just serving the Lord, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While on their mission, they stay in one town for only 2-4 months before transferring to another town generally. His first area he was appointed to, just happened to be in our good friend (originally from Nashville) Chesney's town of Denton TX!! So she took a picture of him and blogged it for me and my family. We love you Chesnut! xoxo.
http://chesneyc.blogspot.com/2010/03/post-just-for-my-friend-lila.html

(mom, feel free to forward this to the family that doesn't read this blog -everyone, lol)

Part 3 video

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Part 2

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Can't keep his clothes on part 1

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi