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hello stranger

2011-08-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it has been a while. I have just flat-out had zero time.

Things are going well. The girls have been enjoying summer - we have done the beach, the lake, camp, etc. Finn is growing like a weed - he is huge. The girls start school in a little over a week... which both of them have mixed feelings about. They are both excited but a little nervous... well, Sasha is a little nervous. Marina just doesn't want homework to start up again. Both of them detest the thought of getting up early.

As of this month the girls have been here a year, and as of this week Finn is six months old. Despite how tough some of the past year has been... and those days when I wasn't sure if I would make it through sane - it really has flown by... it is hard to believe that a little over a year ago it was just Shane and me.

Big news for me is that I am going to be a part of a small team from our church that is joining with Compassion International to serve in East India in November. I am so excited about the opportunity, as I have always wanted to both serve in India and also be a part of a Compassion trip. Compassion is near and dear to our hearts so it is such a blessing to be able to serve with them. (Go check them out if you haven't heard of them or are interested in being a sponsor!) Our team will be based out of Calcutta/Kolkata working with their Child Survival Program at a couple of different projects.

It will be here very quickly, we will be gone From Nov 7th to November 14th. Please pray that we will make an impact for Christ and His kingdom while we are there, that we would fulfill the Lord's purpose in us being there, and that we will have safe travels.

Pray specifically for me that finances will come together in time as well. Your prayers are appreciated!

Here are some pics from the last few months! I have lots more, that are much better, on our "good" camera... so hopefully I can get those downloaded and some posted soon!

Kirill

2011-04-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Please pray for this family from Alabama.

They have been attempting to adopt a little boy named Kirill from Russia. Kirill has Down Syndrome, and in that part of the world that almost always means life in an institution. They were literally in the Russian adoption court a couple of weeks ago, and the judge blocked the adoption because Kirill "has Down Syndrome and is not socially adaptable... and would be better in the institution than a family." The judge then told them they could adopt a "typical child" with no problem.

They are appealing, but have no idea what will come of it... how long it will take... etc.

My heart hurts for this family, and this poor boy who is so close to having a home and a family who loves him.

Please pray that they would appeal, and the courts would find favor and allow them to take this precious guy home.

New Pics and a Video Clip

2011-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Benefit on Saturday

2011-03-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

On Saturday there will be an adoption benefit being held here in Birmingham for the Kinsleys, who are great friends of ours. They are amazing people, and are working towards the adoption of a child from Ethiopia.

SO. You should come.

There will be a family friendly silent auction loaded down with all things incredible... from paintings and other handmade delights... to golf and spa packages... to a website. There will also be a photo booth, dessert bar (yummy homemade goodness), and some pretty awesome company to boot!

Here are the details!

The Blur that has been the last 4 weeks

2011-03-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

So as of Monday, the little Finnster was 4 weeks. 4 WEEKS. I can't believe it. Needless to say, those past 4 weeks have been pretty much a blur. I would have thought, that by around a month I would have a routine and feel a little more in control.... not so... not so at all.

Finn is doing pretty well... he is eating like crazy - apparently almost triple the average amount, but Doc says feed on demand right now... SO we do. We also had to put him on baby Zantac - which is sad... but he is having some acid reflux issues, etc. Hopefully that will help. And hopefully it will help him sleep better. Please let it help him sleep better.

The girls are doing well.. Marina started public school a couple of weeks ago and seems to be liking it thus far. During the day anyway - homework she doesn't care for so much! :) Sasha is going to finish the year in homeschool, so we are plugging along with that.

Here are some new pics!

Introducing Finn

2011-02-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

Introducing Finnigan "Finn" Shane Etheredge.... born January 31st, 7lbs 10oz, 21.25" long.

It has been quite a while since I have put anything up on here, hopefully I will get back into that routine soon! Finn was born almost 2 weeks ago - so that is the latest thing we have been busy with. Here are a few pictures!

Idot

2010-10-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Idot (Dotty, Idotty, Dot-Dot) passed away yesterday afternoon.

Shane and I were coming in from out of town when we got the phone call from my mom. We new this day would be coming, but are still pretty upset - especially since we weren't here this weekend.

We are not sure how old Idot was. Somewhere between 12-15 years is what has been estimated... so that is a long time for a big dog. Idot was adopted by Shane after she showed up, scared and beaten, at a friend's house. Shane was the only person she would go near, so off she went with him. She moved down to Auburn with him, and became his roomate for the remaining 2 years of his college career.

Mom said after it happened, Bailey went to the bottom of the yard and wouldn't come out from under a bush. Rowdy just hid in his house—coming out every once in a while to bark in Idot's direction. It makes me wonder what they (our other dogs) are thinking, when things like this happen...

By the Seashore

2010-09-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we headed down to Seagrove (next to Seaside) for a couple of days of beach time. Shane's grandmother owns a condo down there, so we have a great place to stay - just a block off the beach.

This was the girl's first time to the beach... at least our beaches. They have both been to the Mediterranean while on a hosting program to Spain (not too shabby, though I am not sure what part of the coast). They were pretty excited when we first went out on the beach and talked about the white sand looking like snow. Unfortunately the water this weekend left a lot to be desired - it was brown and murky in huge patches due to seaweed. The girls had bits of the seaweed just covering them every time they came out of the water. After about a half a day at the beach, they were ready for the pool. Hopefully the next time were are able to get down there, the water will be as I originally promised them. Blue. Maybe they, and Shane, will want to spend more time there then. I, on the other hand, want nothing more than to be out at 7 am walking... spending a chunk of the day reading under an umbrella... and then having another good long walk at dusk. Too bad the rest of my family doesn't share my feelings.

Other than the beach and pool, we spent some time walking around Seaside. There is a great little bookstore/record store that we love to peruse. I always leave with bits of paper stuffed in my purse bearing the names of random books I might not have run across elsewhere. We spent over an hour in there this time. They have tons of books, especially kids books, that you might not see in a normal bookstore... so the girls had their minds blown by the seemingly endless array of pop-up fairy and princess books. I really tried to push things like Paddington Bear, numerous Newberry and Caldecott Award winners - but to no avail. As much as it pained me, we decided that since this was pretty much their first interest shown in books at all... a pop-up/interactive book with the story of The Little Mermaid (real, not Disney... Sasha's pick) and a book about the Fairies of Pixie Hollow (Marina's pick) were better than the alternative first choices of glorified princess coloring books with stickers.

The first Auburn game was Saturday night, so Shane and I cooked dinner for everyone so that we could all stay in and watch the game. The girls were very unimpressed with their crab cakes, sauteed shrimp, asparagus, and garlic cheese biscuits.... although they did enjoy the roasted potatoes. They also refused to wear their Auburn shirts, and watched Little Mermaid (Disney, not real) and Camp Rock in another room during the game.

Shane and I did manage to have a little dinner date. Nan Nan and George watched the girls and ordered pizza, and Shane and I went to a restaurant we really like down there. SO good. We also went before 6:00, and got half price entrees - the key to eating on a budget at the beach.

Beach. I miss you.

Vacation. Why can't you stay longer?

Now... for what I know you all really came here for. Pictures.

The Secret Lives of Princesses

2010-08-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

I love children's books, and young adult fiction. The former because of the fantastic illustrations that come along with many of them, and both because of the way that they can just get your imagination going and inspire such creative thought.

I ordered an amazing book for the girls. It is called "The Secret Lives of Princesses," and it is the most wonderfully delightful book I have seen in a while... the stories are inventive and the illustrations are just amazing. I will also be buying more books with the same illustrator simply because it is so beautiful.

The stories are fanciful, and feature the likes of "Princess Babbling Brooke" and "Princess Primandproper." There are also quotes and little snippets throughout that feature things like illustrations of various castle styles - like the Manhattan Walk-Up Castle, and the Inuit Igloo Castle. So fun.

The princesses are all unique, and do not fit the stereotypical princess mold. This is from the book's website: "Everyone knows about Cinderella, Snow White, and other fairy tale favorites. But there are many princesses who have been so well hidden, most of us never heard of them. All of that is about to change."

Unfortunately, the girls are not very interested in it right now. Marina can't read it... and Sasha doesn't want to read English right now. She was also offended by the book's insinuation that a princess "could be fat"... as one of them definitely is. Sasha is very discriminating when it comes to her princesses. For example, she quite hotly disagrees with the statement that Snow White is the "fairest of them all," because it is quite obvious that she is "no pretty." Belle, of Beauty and the Beast, is actually the most beautiful... everyone can see that.

Sigh. Hopefully they will appreciate it later. I will, in the meantime, appreciate it very much. ;)

Sterling

2010-08-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

I would ask that you join me in praying for the son of some friends of ours, Sterling Davis. He is 5, and today he is in his second day of surgery to attempt to remove a brain tumor. You can read his story, and stay updated here: http://sterlingdavis.wordpress.com/

Lately

2010-08-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well we started school. Over all it went well. Each section took a little longer than what I had scheduled - but that was the biggest bump. Thus far anyway. It is hard trying to give them equal one on one time - impossible really, because Marina needs it all the time. So it means some going back and forth between them - trying to teach/direct Marina, and answer/explain things to Sasha.

Sasha seems pretty interested in what she is learning - so hopefully that will continue. I sense this is kind of a "new and interesting" thing for now with Marina, but that she might be over it after a few more days... so there may be a few battles there. But we'll see!

The girls all of the sudden like Mexican - which I am thoroughly excited about. We had some not too long after they got here, and they were a little "eh" about it. However, I made tacos the other night, and then we went to a Mexican restaurant after church on Sunday - their choice! They picked it over pizza. Sasha even announced that she "loves Mexican," and Marina went to town on the salsa.

I had my 16 week, technically 15.5 weeks, appointment on Monday. Shane wasn't with me - because I didn't think they would be doing an ultrasound. However, they did - and the technician asked me if I wanted to know the sex. I told her no, since Shane wasn't there. But now it is driving me crazy! We go back on September 20th to find out.

Just a few of the things I have learned a kid will do, when you are not in the room with them (or even if you are):

1) Glue tiny pieces of paper to their bedroom door.
2) Put glow in the dark bracelets around light bulbs while they are on.
3) Light matches in the bathroom.
4) Try to catch pieces of paper on fire... in the living room... off of a Yankee Candle.
5) Put dirty underwear and socks in their drawer, right along with the clean ones.
6) Write on anything and everything that is lying around.
7) Apply temporary tattoos to themselves... right before you leave the house to go somewhere.

Poster Design: Add a Little Orange to Your Life

2010-08-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am getting back into work (and hopefully finding MORE work soon - GOT to finish my website, but that is another post)... and was looking for a little inspiration. I LOVE movie posters, and was browsing through apple.com/trailers to see if there was anything cool, and on one page there were all these pretty much grouped together.

Weird... some kind of orange/black trend going on in Hollywood design firms? I have to say, I like the results. A lot of times, orange and black can look pretty Halloween-y, but these are great. Some of these are obviously not new movies, so they must be re-releases. Whatever the case, super cool. Rocky and Robocop are my favs....

UPDATE: here is yet another one... slightly different orange, but same family.

One Month

2010-08-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

As of this past weekend we have been home for four weeks. Kind of weird to think about. One one hand, it feels like it went by quickly - but on the other, not so much.

The girls are doing well. We discovered that they love Ken's Creamy Balsamic dressing, so that is pretty great - especially if it means they will continue downing green salad like they have been the past week. We are still in the process of getting Sasha's teeth to a better place. She has had both root canals, and we go to get the first permanent crown put on next week... then the other the following week. After that she will have to have three baby teeth extracted. I am sure we will need braces at some point, but hopefully that will be down the road a bit. Marina has her first dentist appointment next week as well, and we are hoping she doesn't have anything drastic that needs to be done.

Next issue: eyes. I think that both of them need glasses, and both of them are already saying they will not wear them - so we are going to have a battle on our hands.

I go to the doctor for my 16 week appointment next Monday. Monday is also the day that we start homeschooling - which I am SUPER nervous about. I am sure it will be trial and error for a few weeks, especially with the schedule - but hopefully it will go well. I think this may be mostly a cultural thing - combined with a little of just being kids... but they do not like to attempt things that they "don't know", because they are so worried about getting something wrong. They would rather not do it, or try to learn something, if it means they might get something wrong - or not get it right off the bat. We have already had tears with learning English on Rosetta Stone, especially with Marina, when we get answers wrong... so I am a little worried about that part of school. I explained to them that no one is born knowing everything, that it is a continual process, everyone is always learning (and messing up until they do), that it isn't bad that you don't know something, things take practice, etc., etc.

Marina still "doesn't want to learn English" - so that is a daily struggle. We are working on it. I think she is starting to pick up more. We recently instituted English only at meal times, and it is going well.. it is especially good for Marina who has such a crutch in Sasha - and can get her to basically translate between us and her.

Also, we got the girls certificates of citizenship in - so they are officially American Citizens now! As soon as we get their passports back from the Ukrainian consulate we can apply for social security numbers. Those will be super nice to have, so that every time I fill out something official, a form at a doctor's office, etc., I don't have to explain why they don't have a SSN.

Shane planned a surprise weekend trip — for just the two of us — a while back, that we will be taking in October... I am SO very excited about that (especially since it will be our only vacation for a long while).

Shane is also bringing home Chinese food tonight. YUM. I literally am having a hard time thinking about anything else, and can't wait for 6:15.

Busted Heads and Root Canals

2010-08-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we went swimming for the first time since being home, at my Aunt Karen's house in Homewood. It was so nice to be able to do something outside without feeling like you could pass out at any second—we will definitely be going back for some more pool time while the weather is warm. Marina, not too long into our time there, decided to try to do a flip off the side—which of course led to her busting her head. It wasn't too bad, mostly just a scrape—she was swimming again in less than 5 minutes. Then, the very next day she busted her lip while playing with a baseball outside.

Saturday we went to my grandparents lake house for the day, which was fun as well. It was the first time my grandparents had met the girls, and the first time since the airport my parents had seen them. The girls had barbecue pork for the first time, and seemed to like it—Shane was proud.

Monday we went in for Sasha's first dentist appointment. Verdict: 2 Root canals, and 3 additional teeth are to be pulled. The teeth that need root canals are on opposite sides, so they have to be done on separate days. We go in for the first root canal tomorrow morning. We are going to be at the dentist so much over the next month.

We have been attempting to do some diagnostic tests for schooling... and of course working on the English lessons.

The girls love making videos with my camera, and will literally make them of anything and everything. Literally. Like, they filmed the movie Ice Age while it was playing. Maybe they are planning to burn copies and sell it on the internet for a fraction of the retail price?

My mom pointed out that while I was in Ukraine a good many of my posts revolved around food... and food that I was craving. Weird. Yet another flashing sign that I failed to notice.

NOT a Sweet Pea

2010-07-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yes. That is my tummy.

Yes. We are expecting.

No. I am not kidding.

Yes. It was a completely unplanned, total surprise.

While in Ukraine—and even before—I was sick and/or exhausted most of the time I was there. I blamed it on stress, travel, the adoption, new food, etc. When I got home, I continued to feel this way... plus just felt plain weird. Finally, last Thursday I decided that "Even though there was no way" I would take a home pregnancy test so that "I could have one less thing to worry about."

Lo, and behold. It was positive.

Then I took 3 more tests. Then I called the doctor, who told me I could come in on Monday.

We were completely freaked out. I cried in the bathroom a lot – because we also didn't want to say anything to the girls until we knew something "For sure." We were just so overwhelmed at first: 1) We JUST got back with the girls, and have so much going on with that, and also had no idea how they would react to this kind of news 2) Have made a huge cut in salary with my not working full time 3) We were NOT "trying" 4) I ate lots of unpasteurized cheese, took aspirin, used out-houses, ate meat that had been transported in a car trunk, etc., in Ukraine - NOT the greatest prenatal care....

By Monday morning I had accepted that this was happening, and had - in my head - decided that the most I could be was 6 weeks. According to the handy-dandy What to Expect book, the little guy was about the size of a sweet pea.

As the picture flashed up on the ultrasound machine, my mouth just dropped... and Shane exclaimed "BRANDI. That is NOT a sweet pea!"

Turns out I am 12 weeks. Already almost out of my first trimester. I was pregnant for weeks before we even left for Ukraine. And we had no clue.

We are still trying to wrap our heads around it, but are excited! It has made the couple of weeks of being home even more crazy than they would have been. However, we know that the Lord has a plan for this, the He has planned it this way, and His hand is over it.

Will keep everyone updated!

First Few Days

2010-07-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

We are home, as most of you know.

We arrived Saturday night, to a large group of friends and family. We appreciate you guys showing up to welcome us home so very much - I can't tell you how good it was to see everyone after being so homesick. I can't wait until we get settled in some more, and can't start spending quality time with everyone!

We are fairly well so far. Each day has it's challenges, but overall the girls are doing pretty good. The first few days are kind of hazy because of jet lag... I started feeling better in that regard yesterday, so hopefully today will be even better!

We are kind of just hanging out right now. Unpacking, Playing with the dogs (the giels love them, which is great), Playing games, watching movies, doing English Lessons... I have also been researching home school curriculum and cover shcools (a little overwhelmed about that... and we have got to make some decisions about that soon.) The girls have been pickier about food since we have gotten home, and decide jointly after looking at something if they "like or don't like" it... which is frustrating, but I also know they are just missing familiar foods, etc. We are also learning about being consistent with hygiene, brushing teeth, etc... which is a whole other story - ask me about it in person sometime.

There are some definitely funny things that happen, especially with language... Yesterday Sasha came and announced that "Marina hit me in my Ass!!!!." Thus ensued a conversation that completely baffled her about "bad words" and how we don't say those. She also told us last night that she "wanted ice cream with milk in it," That took a bit to figure out - because, obviously, all ice cream has milk... we finally figured out she way trying to say she wanted vanilla ice cream. "All white ice cream."

We went and met Shane for lunch yesterday, the girls had Tazikis and we had Baha burger... it was yummy, my first burger in a long time! It was really nice to get out for a bit. I think we MIGHT try going to church Sunday morning, just depending on how the weekend goes.

Kyiv

2010-07-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

I have internet again!!!! (internet that isn't spotty, and can open emails)

The girls and I got to Kyiv today. We had had our initial appointment at the Embassy, and their medical exams.

We go back to the Embassy tomorrow at 2:00, and that is it!

I can't believe we come home Saturday, I can't wait...

I will try to write a longer post later tonight, and attempt to hit some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks. I hate that I have been so out of touch, internet at the camp only works part of the time - and it is dial up and can't handle doing much of anything.

I miss everyone so much, and look forward to seeing everybody!

Driving and Waiting

2010-06-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today we left the apartment at 7:30 am and headed toward Litugino. We got back about 6:00 pm tonight.

We had a day of driving back and forth from Litugino and Lugansk and doing lots of waiting. We had paperwork to fill out, paperwork to get notarized, records offices to visit - and re-visit, etc. A lot of it we had to do since Shane is leaving tomorrow.

Shane leaves at 6 am in the morning. I leave at 8:30 am to head to camp. I don't know how much internet I will have over the next couple of weeks. But I will try to update when I am able.

Here is my montage of Shane from today. I call it "Waiting."

And for the finale... Creepy Bunny Chairs:

Court

2010-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

We got approved in court!

God is good.

Now we wait. Our "10 day" waiting period is going to be about 13 days b/c of weekends, etc. It technically ends on a Friday... so then bumps to Monday because of the weekend... but the records offices are closed on Mondays - so it moves to Tuesday, July 13th.

It was weird to have court, be granted approval - and then have to send the girls back to the orphanage.

We found out about our passport "options" today for the girls.

1) We apply for the "new" passport through Kyiv. Fairly inexpensive, but takes a minimum of 10-12 days. And this is 10-12 days AFTER the waiting period... so the earliest we could apply would be the 13th, possibly the 14th. Also, apparently the government contracts the printing with a private company - and sometimes doesn't pay in time. When they don't pay in time, the company stops shipping. Our facilitator says most of the time it takes the 10-12 days, but that he has known families where it has taken a month. Boo.

2) We get an "old" style passport, printed in Lugansk. This is a little, I guess, under the table - though they are totally acceptable to use. They take 2 days. As you can imagine there are "fees" involved... which make them expensive. Especially when you have to get 2. There is no way out of the "fees".

It stinks because, despite the expense - there is almost no choice. Staying another 2 weeks (or possibly longer) past July 13th is just not an option... Especially since Shane will not be here.

We also had to take care of our "donation to the orphanage" today...

We were starving by the time we got back into Lugansk around 5:30 pm or so. (Court was held in Litugino, and after that we had to go to the inpsectors office and signs tons of papers, etc. We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast at 8:30 or 9:00 am. I honestly thought I was going to pass out in court. You have to stand up every time the judge addresses you... so not having eaten, in heels, hot, standing up and down..... not good. Thankfully, I did NOT pass out. Ha.) So we went and had a super yummy dinner to celebrate. Shane got salmon, I got grilled chicken and grilled vegetables (I ate more veggies tonight that I have eaten in a week I think). We had gone to this restaurant the first night we were here... it is the one with the funny wording. We actually got the "regally baked cheese" as an appetizer, and it was great. Kind of like mozzarella sticks, but the cheese was wrapped in ham before being coated with bread crumbs. Very regal. They also serve their bread w/ paprika infused butter - yummo as well.

Tomorrow we have to be back in Litugino at 8 am to do some more paperwork, since Shane is leaving Thursday morning. Then back to Lugansk to go to Records Offices, etc - and to make sure there is nothing else he needs to sign before he leaves.

Shane flies out of Lugansk at 7 am Thursday morning, lands in Kyiv around 8:30 - then goes with the facilitator to sign some things at the Embassy. He spends the night, and flies out of Kyiv around 11 am Friday morning, and lands in Birmingham around 8:30 pm. He has quick layovers in both NYC and Detroit. Hopefully it won't be too short of a layover in NYC, and he will have plenty of time to get through Customs...

I am jealous that he will get Mexican food before me (I mean, among many other things). We have been talking about Mexican food for the past two days, and driving ourselves crazy. All I want in the world is Cocina Superior or Tris Chapman Chicken Enchiladas. Mmmmmmmmm.

I will either go out to camp tomorrow night, or Thursday morning after he leaves.

The Judge grilled us today during court. We were in there for about an hour or so - but it felt longer. When he was questioning Sasha, he asked her "Was she sure she wanted to go to America? She didn't want to live in Ukraine?"... Sasha said yes she wanted to go, and yes she wanted to leave Ukraine. He said "well maybe you will think about it" and she looked right at him and said "Nyet."

We went to the same cafe this morning. Shane ventured away from the omelet and got a meat filled pancake. I stuck with the omelet. We both got a-mazing cappuccinos. I will miss that place when I am at camp eating noodles for breakfast and drinking coff-tea. (Even though I do like being at camp!)

We walked to a Blini stand last night and ordered by ourselves. We got across what we wanted, but I guess we worded things awkwardly, were obviously American, and probably mispronounced as well. The two girls working made fun of us pretty hard. I wanted to say "I know what you are saying... even if I DON'T know what you are saying!!!!... but they wouldn't have understood, and would have just made more fun of me. That kind of thing makes me so timid to try to use Russian... which backfires b/c then I don't practice and I don't get any better. I guess I need to be less sensitive, and not a baby, huh?

Miss you all so so much. SO ready to come home!

A Little of the Day to Day

2010-06-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

Shane working at our "desk"

Our clothes dryer

Bus station

The venue where the Indie show was held

Chocolate Croissant Heaven

2010-06-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

Shane and I finished a huge huge project we have been working on non-stop for the past 6 weeks or so. BIG BIG deal. Yesterday was the day we had to upload a lot of it, and it was a little stressful because our internet was pretty slow. Shane found a cafe with WIFI (which is faster than our modem), and Shane sat at it - ordering Cafe Americanos - for literally 9 hours yesterday while files uploaded. I sat, locked in, at the apartment working on finishing up the last bits the whole time. I say locked in, because I was, in fact, literally locked in. You have to unlock the door w/ a key from the inside, and I realized too late, that once Shane had left and taken the keys that there was no way for me to get out. I guess if there had been a fire, I would have had to jump out a window - or try climbing down the grape vine. Fortunately there were no such catastrophes, and the files uploaded literally 10 minutes before the cafe closed at 11 pm last night. We finished up a couple of things this morning, and we are done.

We came back to the cafe for a celebratory late breakfast. Omelets, salad, and a super yummy chocolate croissant. We got one croissant, and now I am wishing we had gotten two - it was so yummy. My waistline is probably happy we split it though, because I am sure that it had about 5,000 calories.

The Croissant was a total accident - a very happy accident - but accident. Shane was actually trying to order pancakes from a picture on the menu, and must have pointed at the words for "chocolate croissant" instead.

There is one girl here that speaks a tiny bit of English. They probably think we are crazy since Shane has practically lived here for the past couple of days. The cafe is really great, very nice interior, great music playing.... awesome lattes and coffee. We will definitely come here again. It is really close to the apartment too.

Also, bonus, I am downloading Top Chef on the WIFI right now. Score. Don't have to use up our modem AND get to see my show. :)

We need to clean today, our apartment is a wreck.

We are also going to figure out the logistics of Shane getting home. That is definitely happening. The plan right now is to switch his flight to Friday morning, Ukraine time... which would put him getting back to the States around 9 pm Bham time. Hopefully this will work out with the in-country flight schedule here, etc. We are going to be talking to our facilitator in a bit to coordinate everything.

Tomorrow afternoon is court.

Also, kind of fun... there is an American guy here, a friend of ours, named Brian. He helps out at camp, which is how I met him. He is originally from New York, and has lived in Ukraine for several years. He came here with the Peace Corps, and then after his stint stayed on and is now working at the English Language Institute here. He is engaged to a Ukrainian girl, Dasha, who works as an interpreter at camp as well. They are so sweet, and such a cute couple. He is working on a project at work, and has asked us to come and do a few voice recordings for the Institute. They need different dialects, etc... so that people learning English can hear it spoken different ways. I think we will be doing that Wednesday morning.

As Of Late

2010-06-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

I went out to camp on Wednesday, and Shane went late Thursday... and we came back to Lugansk yesterday around lunch. We didn't have internet while we were out at camp, so we are trying to catch up on emails, etc.

The other day, we were on the swing with Sasha and Marina... and apparently Marina said something akin to "kiss my butt" to Sasha. Maybe Shane and I need to get some lessons on curse words and offensive remarks in Russian so we know when something like that is being said???

The first camp session ended Saturday morning, so all the kiddos went home to their respective villages, towns, and the Bela kids went back to the orphanage. This week will be an off week, and then the second session of Camp will start he following week.

Yesterday morning we got up early to pack, eat breakfast, see kids off, etc. All of the clothes I had taken to camp were dirty, so I decided to throw on a Servant Life t-shirt I had brought. This shirt just happened to be the same shirt that one of the older girls at camp had borrowed the night before for a skit and dance number. I was in a hurry, and threw it on - not thinking anything of it. Part way through the morning, I had the following line of thought: "What is that smell?" "Is that me?!?!?!? Do I stink so bad that I can smell myself???" "No, I can't stink that bad. I just took a shower last night." Then it hit me. It was the shirt. I just hadn't thought about how it had been worn, practiced in, and danced in all the previous day. I didn't really have time to change until after I had gotten back to Lugansk... so I just had to wear it. Oh, the poor children who were given hugs by the stinky American lady.

Last night we went to see the band of our friend Yeagor who works as an interpreter at camp. He plays bass in an Indie band. Most of the Americans and Ukrainian interpreters from camp went as well. There were four Indie bands playing in what is normally a biker bar (it was closed to the "normal" crowd and was rented out for the show)... it was fun. I am used to venues kind if similar to that from Shane's days in bands, but I think some of the other Americans were a little leery - and sort of glad when it was over. (It DID have a suspicious looking platform w/ a pole, a stage supported by oil barrels, and what appeared to be torn up picnic tables piled in the corners). Yeagor did great - he is a fantastic bass player. After we left the show, we went by McDonalds. I ate a salad for the the first time in days and days... it was nice.

Oh, a funny note: When we got to where the show was last night, our driver didn't want to leave us. I think he thought we were crazy and in the wrong place. He wouldn't leave until the other people we were meeting had gotten there and he could talk to someone who spoke Russian to make sure we weren't going to get ourselves killed in a Ukrainian biker bar - Which, by the way, was mysteriously named "Refrigerator".

I think Shane posted on facebook, but our interpol clearance did come through, so we still have court on Tuesday.

We did decide last night, that Shane is going to need to come home after court. For some reason, he is just not able to connect very well with his company's servers, etc., and is not being able to work consistently, They have already been extremely generous with his time, so we feel we need to respect that, and go ahead and get him back. (Only one of us has to stay once court is completed) Plus, we were originally hoping to be coming home around the 8th or so, but it now looks like it is going to be closer to the 16th. He ABSOLUTELY has to be back at work by the 12th, and since he would have to leave early anyway - he might as well just go ahead and go back. Hopefully that will allow him to be a little more flexible for a few days after we get home as well. We are, right now, looking at him flying back next Friday - and will be deciding for sure by tomorrow. We will keep you posted.

Since I really do not want to stay in the city by myself, this means I will probably let go of our apartment in the city, and just go out to camp for the remainder of the time. We have to talk to our facilitator and get all the details worked out. I am a little bummed about it... but it could be worse. I would be more sad if we were in a random city where I didn't know anyone, and didn't have anywhere to go and stay once he left. The hardest part I think will be from the airport in Lugansk to the airport in Kyiv (I will definitely fly, now, from Lugansk to Kyiv)... but that shouldn't be too bad. I don't know if I will have to stay overnight w/ the girls in Kyiv or not yet.

We were in the grocery store today, and I still get a little weirded-out when I see bags of chips with flavors like crab and squid.

I had a banana and chocolate blini (like a wrap made w/ a crepe) yesterday that was heaven. Shane had one with chicken that was really good as well.

I had mentioned a while back that I was super excited, because we were getting a "subscription" to the new Top Chef through Itunes. That turned out to be a bust... downloading part of one episode totally drained our modem - so I will just have to wait. No one tell me who wins.

Things I would like to have right now: A smoothie, Catfish and Collard Greens from Full Moon

Shane is good, and doesn't want anything right now because he has discovered Lion Bars (Which I feel we will need to make an investment in before coming home... They are like high quality star crunches, in candy bar form, also available with peanuts).

We have a ton of work to finish up today. I will try to upload some pictures later on when we are finished with that.

Plans

2010-06-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Plans, most of the time, don't ever quite seem work out the way we want them to.

We had planned for me to be back at the camp today (Shane would stay in Lugansk for a couple more days to work). However, late yesterday afternoon we got a call from our facilitator that the inspector had not sent all the paperwork he should have. SO, instead of going to camp this morning, we were off to the inspector in Litugino, then back to Lugansk to get the forms on the train to Kyiv.

It actually ended up not being too bad, the inspector - for the first time - actually had the forms ready when we got there... which was nice.

My staying in Lugansk another day is probably for the best anyhow, it gives me another day to get some work done. We are loaded down right now.

I am also still sick to my stomach today, which stinks. I am pretty sure it was something I ate, and wish I could figure out what - so I don't do it again. The other possibility is that I ingested too much water from the tap. But I don't think that is it, I have only been brushing my teeth with it. Although, Shane Duke (the missionary) did say that he got sick off of water in Lugansk. I have only had sparkling water today thus far, and am now trying to decide - from our limited selection - what sounds the most enticing to try to eat. Truthfully, all I want in the world is a smoothie... but that won't be happening. So it is looking like Cup O' Noodles, Ukrainian style for me.

The guy that owns the apartment came by to clean yesterday afternoon. He brought us some cherries. They are different from the Bing and Ranier cherries you see in America most of the time... they are smaller, have a slightly different texture, and are really sour. Good flavor, but sour - if that makes sense. Since they were already really ripe, and I definitely wanted to use them, I decided to try to make some really simple preserves. I pitted them, and then cooked them until they thickened with a little lemon juice and sugar. They turned out really well! I only had a taste, because of my stomach, but I am excited to try them on toast. Now, if only we had some biscuits....

As of right now, I am thinking I will be able to go to camp in the morning. Shane will probably stay here another day or two. We will both come back on Saturday, more than likely, for a few days.

One of the interpreters at camp, Yeagor, is in a band. They are playing in Lugansk on Saturday night, so I think we will try to go see them. I have no idea where it will be, how we will get there, etc... but I am excited to something so non-touristy!

Last Few Days

2010-06-21T03:26:00.000-07:00

We went out to the Camp on Friday, and have been without internet the whole time we were out there. We came back into town today to check email, work, and so Shane could communicate with his job, etc.

Friday, we got out to camp a little after lunch. We hung out with the girls for most of the afternoon, which was a bad precedent because after that Marina NEVER wanted to be with her group - which I could tell started to make "Big Lady" (the lady who is like #2 at the Orphanage, and also Marina's dorm mother) frustrated. We need her to like us, so we tried to not distract Marina during groups times, etc.

Saturday morning some of the Americans that were here for Camp left, so that days some of the groups were going to be without teachers/leaders before "replacement" Americans came in on Sunday. Shane and I, mostly Shane, led a group of boys that day. Sunday was kind of a break day, and is visitation day at the camp for children who are there that have families, etc. Also there was a "dance" on Sunday night, which was super cute. I don't know where some of these girls get the elaborate dresses that they have, but they get totally decked out. The ones with the elaborate dresses are mostly village children, etc. There were also several choreographed dances by various kids and leaders.

The past couple days have been in the 70s and it has actually gotten cold at night - which was a welcome change from the previous week. It is starting to warm back up though.

Yesterday, Shane came into town for church with Shane Duke (missionary) and also went to the Chinese church in town. He spent part of the day with one of the interpreters, Yeagor, and Yeagor's mom. Yeagor helped him find several Pixar movies, etc., in Russian.

We are hoping to go back out to Camp tomorrow, it depends on Shane's work, etc.

My stomach has been acting up over the past day or so, and I am not feeling that great today.

Here are some pictures for you guys. The first few are of our apartment in Lugansk... and most of the rest are from camp.

This is a ginormous grape vine that covers part of our living room window (we are on the 3rd floor).

living room.

kitchen

our bedroom

wallpaper on one of the ceilings (all of the ceilings and walls have ornate wallpaper on them)

bookcase

cafe where we have done a lot of waiting (and sweating). yes, that is a cat in the background stretched out. (it was an outdoor cafe).

The girls playing w/ hoola-hoops.

shane and the girls the first afternoon out there.

shane duke (the missionary running camp)

some of the girls dressed up for the dance, and a special performance they did.

Same girls... with Shane and Marilyn Duke, and a few others. "Big Lady," the one that stays aggravated with Marina for running off is in back on right.

At the dance. A couple of the other Americans let me borrow a skirt, etc., because I didn't know about the dance and had left the dressier clothes I bought in Lugansk.

boys...

Marina and a feathered fan...

Shane and Sasha dancing.

McDonalds

2010-06-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

We went to McDonalds tonight. (We eat much later here a lot of nights... we left the the apartment around 8 or so.) It was good. They had cherry pie. McDonalds is better here. The fries are the same to me... the hamburgers much better.

We saw a movie theater, they are playing Toy Story 3, Killers, Robin Hood, etc. Apparently though, they are all dubbed - not subtitled.

Also, we found out it is bad luck to whistle inside (a result of Shane whistling the theme song from Aladdin very loudly). Sergey told us it means that you will lose your money.

I am pretty mad at Shane over this, and told him I hope it means only he loses his money. I am keeping mine. ;)

We asked about umbrellas... turns out you can open those indoors all you want.

Long Day / Good Ending

2010-06-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty long day.

Sergey left this morning to go pick up the papers that the investigator had finally signed, and then go by the court to see if they would go ahead and assign a date. We didn't go with him because it was just supposed to not take very long, and honestly I think some things are easier if it is just him. We were then planning on, when he got back around lunch getting ready and going out to the camp so we could stay for a few days.

Was was supposed to be a quick trip to Litugino turned into the court requesting another set of birth certificates, him having to drive out to the Orphanage again, having to get the birth certificates notarized, having to sit at a records office for almost three hours, back to the court house, etc. Then he had to come back to Lugansk and go to the Vital Records office, and then to the train station to get paperwork on the train to Kyiv.

He just got back about 30-40 minutes ago, almost at a little before 6 pm. I feel bad that we did not go with him now, even though I am sure it would have been a bigger pain to be dragging around 2 people that can't speak Russian with him.

So now, we will not be going out to camp. The plan is for the morning.

Also, the internet went out yesterday, and has not worked at all. Sergey and Shane left right after Sergey got back to go see if we just needed to add more tranferrable bytes to the modem - or if there was something wrong with it.

Turned out it just needed to add some $ to the modem. So we are working again.

The day has gone by very slowly. No internet until now, not feeling great, feeling a little trapped in the apt. (We are not in the center of town, so there isn't a ton of stuff that is close by as far as restaurants, stores, etc.. Although, there are more pros about where we are than cons - like, it is only $30 a night which is great when you are paying for a month or so, it is pretty quiet, etc.), and also feeling like my body was going to rebel if I had to eat anymore noodles or dumplings or granola bars. I got it into my head mid-morning, that "since Sergey would be back around lunch" we would go somewhere to eat for lunch - maybe even to McDonalds. So, in expectation of that, I didn't eat anything. As the day went by, I of course got completely irritated about everything b/c I hadn't eaten. And I didn't want to eat, because all we had were Ukrainian Cup o' Noodles and leftover dumplings (we hadn't wanted to buy too much, esp fresh stuff because we thought we would be out at camp before now). Poor Shane, I know I was being a poop head. When I first got here... I thought - I could eat these dumplings every day for every meal. Turns out, not the case.

The Shower head also fell off the mount and landed on my head today. It hurt. That thing is heavy.

Also, Nadia and Nicolai - the people we are renting the apartment from, came by to clean, etc. I felt bad... I offered to help but she would NOT let me, so we had to jsut sit there while she washed the floors and cleaned the bathroom. Nicolai did go through a photo album of theirs with us, which was super cute. Before they left, he saw I had moved to sit near the air conditioning unit... and he proceeded to make me move and give me a lecture (all in Russian) about how I couldn't sit there b/c the air would make me sick. (I got the gist through his hand motions, few english words, exaggerated fake sniffles and sneezes, and the fact that I knew there is the line of thought that being in air currents can make you sick.)

Finally, I made Shane call Sergey around 3:00 to see when he might be back... and that is when we found out what a debacle the day had become. I decided that I was going to go back to the store, to get stuff to make a sandwich... so we walked down there. I decided to brave the produce section, because I had to get some sort of fruit or veggie in me. Turns out it isn't so scary. After watching a guy, we realized you just bag your produce, hand it to a girl in the corner - and she goes ahead and weighs it and prints out a price label. That way, when you get to the check out it is already priced, and just has to be scanned.

We picked out some fresh bread, and some sort of salami looking sausage... and I also got some sunflower oil to bring home (that is one of the main oils used here for cooking). In line to check out, the lady in front of me turned around and said a bunch of stuff in Russian. Before I could get out "I'm sorry, I don't understand" in Russian, which is one things I do happen to know... she motioned toward her water bottle, and then toward ours. Turns out it is not proper to have your bottles standing on the check out belt. They are supposed to be lying down. To me, it seems like they take up a lot more room and roll around... but I suppose they also don't risk tipping over and crunching anything or making a racket.

When we got back we made the sandwiches and Shane grilled them on the stove. SO good. And I had fresh sliced tomato with it. Yum. Made my day immediately better. Ha.

Also, we got a court date! Tuesday, June 29th. This is good news! I had really really hoped that it would have been next Thur/Fri... but I guess since we lost a couple of days it didn't work out. And Monday the 25th is some sort of holiday, so gov offices are closed. I am a little bummed that it is a week and a half away. That means we have essentially 11 days of nothing.... and then the court date... and then another 10 days of waiting. It is almost like we have two waiting periods now. Which makes it seem like so much longer.

I did forget to mention the menu at one of the restaurants we went to the other night. It was really yummy, and they had a version of their menu that essentially had English subtitles. I appreciated the English so much, but it was hard not to get a little tickled at some of the descriptions. They had an appetizer that said "Regally Baked Cheese," and a Side item that was "Potatoes are roasted with salt and papper". Also, there was a seafood section... and a few things had crab on them. They had misspelled one, so what we could have ordered was "Oysters with Crap." We didn't order those. Ha. Shane did get some pretty great Salmon though. I hope to go back there at some point.

We watched the last episode of Band of Brothers, and I finished Defiance (the book). I wish we had Defiance, the movie, with us to watch now.

In the living room are a handful of english books that previous people who were here adopting had left. All of them have a little inscription in them. Shane has decided he is leaving a baseball book he brought. "For the guys."

If we head out to camp, I am not sure what the internet situation will be. I know our modem doesn't work there, because we tried it yesterday... but Shane Duke says that he gets it. We will probably be out there for 2-3 days and then come back for a day. It will all depend on the internet, etc., because Shane has to be able to get on his company's server, etc.

Hope everyone at home is doing well.

Not Much To Say

2010-06-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

As of about 2:30 today, we still had no papers.

Sergey (interpreter) spoke to the investigator, and he said he "hoped to have things signed by 5." They close at 5, so if it isn't done by then... then we have to go back to get them tomorrow. We need them by 5 (or before), so that we can possibly get them back to Lugansk and on the train by 6 to get back to Kyiv. That way our facilitator can get them tomorrow, check things, and then submit them first thing Friday morning.

Once we get the papers, and get them on the the train - then we will not have anything for about a week. (It will take them that long to process papers and set up a court date.) We are going to tell Sergey (our interpreter) to go home to his family (he lives in a city about 4 hours away, is married with a 5 yr old boy) for a few days or so. We will then get Sergey (the driver), and pay him to take us out to camp in the morning. We will stay at camp for a few days, then come back to Lugansk for a day to check internet, work, etc... then head back out to camp for another couple of days, etc. We are going to get Sergey (interpreter) to talk with Sergey (driver) thoroughly concerning this plan... because Sergey (driver) really doesn't speak a ton of English - and we obviously don't speak a ton of Russian.

Nothing really interesting to talk about. We have pretty much been working all day today... we had not even left the apartment up until about 45 minutes ago. Shane and I took a 30 minute or so walk (Hopefully that will help counter today's lunch of noodles I ate...). And now Shane and Sergey are about to drive to Litugino to wait around until 5, hoping to get the papers. I am going to stay here.

One thing I never can used to is the number of stray dogs. It always makes me a little sad. And it makes me miss our puppies. On our walk today, we saw a tiny little puppy sifting through garbage on the side of the road. If we were at home, he would be at my house right now. I still kind of want to go back and get him.

On a side note, we realized that the water in our building actually gets cut off for certain hours at night... from approx midnight-ish to sometime before 6 am. Weird.

It stormed last night, and isn't quite so hot today.

We have been watching Band of Brothers in the evenings and only have one more episode. Sad.

Documents Documents Documents

2010-06-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today was another day of driving around from Litugino (town w/ inspector, court, etc) to the village where Camp is to the village where the Orphanage is. The notary, who was supposed to have some paperwork finished by 5 yesterday, still not not have them done at 11 this morning. We went to Camp to get the girls to rewrite their statements. Also we had a conversation about their names... we had decided we would pick out three middle names for each, and then let them decide between those.

Side note: We found out a couple of days ago that Sasha's name is actually Alexandra. Sasha is just what you usually get called. It all makes sense now... our facilitator's name is Oleksander — the male version of Alexandra - and he goes by Sasha. So as part of the conversation with them, we asked Sasha if she wanted to keep just Sasha — or still keep Alexandra. She was very confused and said - "but they are the same thing." I guess as if asking someone if they wanted to be named Rob or Robert....

So after talking about the choices.... first with Marina saying she wanted to be called Jessica ( a couple of months ago it was Katelyn).... they decided. Sasha will be Alexandra Grace (still called Sasha), and Marina will be Marina Paige. Those weren't my number ones... but we said we would let them pick from the three each. I do like Marina Paige better than Marina Jessica though... ha. :)

After leaving camp we had to go back to the orphanage to get the Director to sign more forms... and then he wanted a ride to Litugino. We had to go back there anyway, so off we went. He is a funny/odd man, who seems very old school russian, has crazy gray hair, and talks a lot. He seems to like us though, and is always giving me a hug when he sees me - even though he seems to forget me every time he does see me. He has asked me twice if I have been here before... hahaha.

Once we got back to Litugino we went to the notary, and proofed papers, and then signed papers. Shane told Sergey (interpreter) to tell us if they slipped something in there about buying a car, or signing up for two years of service in the military - since we would have obviously never known...

The paper that Kyiv messed up on, and that we were waiting to come in today did not arrive - so unfortunately that sets us back a couple of days. In Kyiv, they only accept certain papers on M, W, F... so the papers that we needed to send back once that one arrived will have to be sent Tomorrow evening now, and will not be filed until Friday. This means that the week that it takes to process and get a court date will not start until Friday, and court will not be earlier than a week from Monday.

We went back to the same little cafe, and had the same waitress. She seemed to not dislike us as much today. Shane skipped the mayo salad and he and Sergey got awesome sundaes. I passed, and was a little jealous when they came out. Vanilla ice cream with bananas and chocolate.

Another side note... I was reading in my "Russian for Dummies" book that that Russians (and therefor I assume Ukrainians, esp in this area) do NOT joke about parents. They will tell the most un-PC jokes about anything and everything... but do NOT joke about parents. was asking Sergey about it, and as an example... told him about "Your Mom" jokes. Shane said... like someone might be joking with you and and say "don't be such a pig" - and then you would say back "Your mom is a pig" Sergey said "Oh nooooo.... we would think that you were really calling our mothers fat, and that would not be funny at all."

We have done everything we could today, so hopefully the form will arrive tomorrow... and we can keep things rolling.

We went to a Ukrainian restaurant for dinner... had some really yummy Borscht, sausage, and a salad that was similar to potato salad with a little ham and peas in it. Shane had dumplings, most of my sausage, fried potatoes, and a salad that was made up of cauliflower, tomatoes, dill, and peas (I ate most of it), and compote (like a boiled fruit juice).

Tonight we work some more! I am also washing clothes for the first time, and hanging them to dry on the line on our closed in porch....

Enjoy a few pictures! :)

(Marina rewriting her statement, Sasha writing, looking at pictures on the comp... and then the one w/ Marina on the white background is Shane trying to take pictures for their passports - they have to be totally stone faced, and she kept laughing)

Meeting the girls... and the inspector

2010-06-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

We woke up early this morning and left at 7 am to head to the town that the inspector is in. We got there about 20 minutes before his office opened, and waited around until he got there and would see us. He proceeded to go through every single page of our dossier and just grill us as he was doing it. When he wasn't asking questions like, "Will you have time for the girls?" and "Describe your house, is it fit?"... kept going back to some form of "I think you are too young, how can you handle this?" and "Why would you want to adopt before having birth children?". He just could not understand. Every form of an answer we gave him he shook his head. Or smirked. Or both. We were sweating bullets. We were there for about an hour and a half, and by the end of it he was saying "On one hand I appreciate your trying to do this... but on the other I feel you are just too young. You can't handle this. You will not be parents, you will be like brother and sister." However, for whatever reason (I am sure the Lord)... and it looked like it caused him pain to do it... he approved the next step.

We then left with his assistant to go to the Orphanage to pick up the director. The kids are at camp, so after we drove to the village the Orphanage is in to get the director - we then went to the village the camp is in.

Almost immediately, Marina approached us... looking super precious in this crazy black satin layered skirt and lime green scrunchy tank top. This is the first time Shane had laid eyes on her in person, and it went well. She was a tad shy, but not hesitant (if that makes sense). They had to go find Sasha, because camp is pretty big and the kids were spread out in various groups doing activities, etc. When they finally found her, and brought her too us she was really excited. It was so good to finally see them.

It was a little awkward because there were a bunch of random people... the Director, Inspector's assistant, a teacher, the two "assistant directors", etc. So it is hard to really try to talk, etc., with a crowd watching you. We went to a small room where the Director and the Inspector's Assistant proceeded to talk to the girls about everything, and question them as to whether this is something they wanted. Both of them said yes.... and then afterward they both had to had print a paragraph (basically saying they wanted to be adopted by us) and sign it. Poor Marina messed hers up at the end, and accidentally wrote a wrong date - so she had to totally start over. I felt so bad for her, no wonder she messed up with all the people staring at her while she was writing.

We then had to say our goodbyes for the day, and head back to the Orphanage where we had to wait on them to prepare and sign tons of papers. One of the workers "who does the documents" was out, so they couldn't complete two docs. After the director called the inspector, his office agreed to complete those docs - but we would have to carry them back to the Orphanage to get the director to sign.

Then it was back to Litugino - where the Inspector was - to take him some papers, and then pick up others. As we were dropping off one set, he also mentioned that he "needed a pack of paper." (Which is I guess better than, I need $100) We had to go and makes copies of everything, so we bought paper while we were having that done. Then it was to the notary, who said it would be 5 pm before they could do our papers - it was about 2:00 or so at this time - so we went to get coffee... and actually got a bit to eat, since we had only had a granola bar at around 6:45 that morning. We were starving.

The menu, of course, was totally in Russian... so Sergey had to pretty much tell us what was on it. Also, the waitress had to stand there and help as well — because apparently they don't actually have everything on the menu. It had to have been in the 90s today, and we were just roasting... and being that this was an outside cafe, we really didn't want any of the hot soups, etc. So we chose Caesar Salad. Shane had gotten one in Kiev, and it was good - it was also, pretty close to an "American" Caesar salad. This Caesar salad was very different, and when she brought it out - I just looked at Shane, because I knew it was his worst nightmare. It was served in essentially a footed ice cream bowl... with the salad layered. The layers were from the bottom: A little bit of chicken, then tomatoes and bell peppers, then cucumbers, then mayonnaise, then shredded cheese. Shane hates cucumbers, and more than that, he hates mayonnaise. It is his number one enemy. Well... number two. Sharks are number one... then mayonnaise. And this salad had a lot.

Shane was a trooper though, he ate it all. He had the empty stomach and the fact that it was cold going for him I guess! I liked it... not what I would ever think of as a Caesar salad - but good! He did ask me not to talk about it, because he said he might throw. Ha.

We then just sat there for about an hour, getting more sweaty and more stinky, waiting and hoping the notary would finish early. Then we got a call from the inspectors office. The SDA in Kyiv had misspelled out name on our referral document. Which meant we would have to put the referral on the train in Lugansk, to go overnight back to Kyiv... Sasha would then take it to SDA tomorrow, and send it back. Boo. This also meant the paragraphs that the girls had to write out were wrong, because this is the paper they copied. SO, we have to get them to rewrite everything. I feel so bad! (It did turn out though, that Sasha can fax the corrected form tomorrow and they can complete the paperwork using that one, and then just switch it with the original when it comes in - rather than having to just wait).

We decided since we for sure had to be back in the morning, that we would just go ahead and come back to the city rather than wait another couple of hours for the notary. We will just pick up those papers in the morning.

I realized today, that I made a few poor packing decisions. Especially if we end up going out to camp some. I have one pair of capris and one pair of bermuda type shorts... and they are both what you might call "dressy" ones. This will not cut it. Fortunately, and most randomly, there is a Columbia - yes Columbia - store right down the street from us. I don't know who buys clothes from them... they sell normal Columbia things.... fishing shirts and hiking boots... but they are there. I was able to find a pair of casual outdoor khaki capris - so I am all good now. :) They did have what essentially looked like outdoor capris for men - and I tried to talk Shane into them so we could match and be super awkward Americans walking about. He wouldn't have it though..... he is no fun. :)

We tried another venture to the market, and wimped out of attempting to buy fresh produce - because they have a woman that weighs stuff for you, etc... so I am not sure how the process works, or how to really say anything useful - SO we opted for what are basically Ramen noodles, more frozen dumplings, and frozen green beans.

I then came home and took a two hour nap. From 6:30 to 8:30... so going back to bed at a decent time tonight will be fun. This also means that the dumpling and green bean dinner I had planned didn't work out, and Shane ate leftover pizza and applesauce - while I had a cookie, a few paprika pringles, and a square of chocolate. Super healthy over here.

We are looking forward to seeing the girls again tomorrow. Hopefully all the paperwork will get straightened out. We are blessed that the girls were both born in Lugansk, and were both registered as orphans in Lutugino. Some people deal with siblings being born in different cities, registered in different cities, etc... so they have to go to all of them to collect various paperwork.

I can't believe we will have left a week ago tomorrow...

We miss everyone so much!

A few pics...

2010-06-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics... these are only a few that we have taken with the little camera. We haven't downloaded the ones from our "real" camera. :)

While we were at a cafe... hoping the power would come back on. (The power in the cafe was also out)

Waiting for the SDA to open in order to pick up our referral.

While we were waiting, this bride and groom were getting some pictures taken with a famous statue near us.

The rest are on the train. Shane was mad and sweating profusely. Never been so hot... and we're from Alabama. We couldn't even really see out of window that well because it was just covered in condensation.

First "real" meal

2010-06-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

So Shane and I made it to a super market today.... and purchased a few things for the next couple of days. One of the things we bought were frozen dumplings - fortunately they had pictures on the packaging so we knew we were getting potato and chicken.... not liver. Liver dumplings are not my fav. I will eat them, but I like chicken much better. After deliberating over jars of what I hope is close to spaghetti sauce, we made our way to the check out.

I annoyed the check out girl right off the bat, by missing her question of whether I needed bags (which you have to purchase here). But other than our salami not ringing up, and her just not giving it to us... it was fine.

We got back and I "cooked" our first lunch at the apartment. Chicken dumplings, green peas, bread and cheese, and applesauce. The stove is an old gas one that you have to light with a match... but I was successful in not blowing anything up - so all is good. I was wondering why there was a door to close off the kitchen, but then quickly realized the reasoning as the temperature went from comfortable to about 90 degrees two seconds after turning the oven on. Despite being frozen, the dumplings were really good... I can't wait to make them at home. Sasha, the facilitator, explained how to make pork and beef dumplings - which are sure to be great.

Tonight and all day tomorrow we are going to be working working working. We have a lot of freelance, and Shane has regular work, to catch up on. Sergey, the interpreter, will be here tomorrow night and will be staying in the apartment with us. It will be nice to have help learning our way around, etc!

In Lugnask

2010-06-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

We are in Lugansk, as of about an hour or so ago. We are completely on our own until tomorrow night when our interpreter gets here.

Yesterday we got up and gathered our things in preparation of our check out. We went to an italian restaurant down the street to grab lunch before our facilitator picked us up, and had the greatest little greek salad, margherita pizza, and lattes. So yummy. I wish that restaurant was going to be near us the whole time we were here!

Our facilitator, Sasha, picked us up and we headed to the bank, to buy train tickets, and to pick up our referral from the SDA. The SDA was supposed to open at 2, so we wanted to be there a little before then so we could be first in line. We got there and waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, around 3:30 we got in and signed a paper - and they handed us our dossier and referral for the girls. Another step down, yay! While we were there we met another American couple from Minnesota who are here adopting 4 siblings, which will bring their grand total of children to 10 (combined birth and adopted). They have actually adopted several (I think either 3 or 4) special needs children. Amazing.

After they finally decided to open, and we were able to pick up the referral, we headed to the bank, and to pick up tickets. We had to pay a little bit of an "extra fee" for the train tickets because 1) we wanted one "cupa" (bunk car) to ourselves (they usually sleep 4)... 2) It is a little hard to get train tickets right now for some reason... and 3) It was last minute I think

Sasha took us to the train and helped us get on and settled in, and then he left. We will see him later on. Sergey (interpreter Sergey), who works for Sasha, will be joining us tomorrow to help us through this next part of the process in Lugansk.

Let me just say, that when we boarded the train... I thought that we had made the worst decision possible. It was the hottest I think I have ever been. Shane and I were both just pouring sweat. Poor Shane looked so miserable. I will try to post a picture later. Ha. It was like that for about 30-45 minutes or so, and once the train started it got bearable. As the sun went down, and night progressed, it got very comfortable for the most part. Every time the train had a stop, the air was turned off - so it got really warm, really QUICK. But, thank goodness, most stops were only a few minutes. Sleeping on it was ok, I woke up every time we stopped... but was able to fall back asleep fairly quickly. Once the sun started coming up, way too early, that was pretty much it for sleep.

We had a little bit of stress this morning, because we had thought we were arriving at 7:00 am or so... and that time came and went. We kind of wondered if we had missed it, etc.... and I even made Shane go and ask someone when we came to another stop. Pretty much all we could say was "Lugansk???"... we were told no, and then a bunch of other stuff - which we unfortunately didn't understand. We finally got in touch w/ our facilitator who informed us that we didn't arrive until 9:45 am. So, fortunately we DID make our stop... and DID NOT end up somewhere in Russia. Ha. (I honestly think Lugansk is the "end of the line", so there was prob no way that could have happened anyway).

There are always crazy characters on the train... extremely large men walking around in grey "grippies" — which is what Shane called them, they were like bikini brief underwear — girls wearing almost nothing... Shane watched a guy walk into a door watching one girl. It always make for goo people watching.

Sasha had someone pick us up, Sergey... not to be confused with interpreter Sergey... this is "driver" Sergey. He helped us with our overpacked bags, and drove us into Lugansk to our apartment. There we met the most precious little couple, who are the owners, named Nicolai and Nadia. SO SO SO cute and sweet. They showed us all the light switches, the room, bathrooms, how the keys worked, etc. And Nadia gave me a giant hug. I want to bring them home with us. Nicolai has a withered arm... I want to know if he was born like that, or if something happened. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to ask.. but maybe our interpreter will know.

I have been in Lugansk, but only kind of in and out... going to and from the camp I have worked with, so I don't know much about it. I don't really recognize the area we are in, and it doesn't seem close to many things (as far as restaurants, etc.), but hopefully one we can get out an walk around a bit we will find some things. We need to brave trying to find a market, so that we can buy some food. I have had one fiber bar today, and am therefor starving.

Today and most of tomorrow we are going to be working a lot on freelance, etc... and then Monday we will have our appointment with the local Inspector, and then be taken to our "official" orphanage visit, etc.

Pray that we can find our way back to our apartment again, should we try to leave and find a market. :)

First couple of days

2010-06-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well we have made it through the first couple of days here in Kyiv. From about 2 hours after we got here yesterday, up until about an hour or so ago - we had no power... which was awesome. However, we have power, steady internet, and air conditioning now... so we are doing great! ;)

The trip over to Kyiv was pretty good. We had to sit on the tarmac for about 1.5 hours at JFK, which wasn't too fun but Shane slept through, literally, the whole delay... and at one point somewhere over the Atlantic we hit some scream inducing turbulence (to be clear—we weren't screaming, but more than a handful of people around us were). Once we landed, we went to the apartment. From the street you open a seemingly random door that is between a couple of stores, and then walk up a really dark staircase. Then you ring a doorbell, walk through a foyer, and there is our apartment. It is really nice... and when we got here, it was cool, internet was flowing, lights worked. We were then taken to lunch, came back - and the power on pretty much the whole block was out.

And it was about 90 degrees inside. And no internet signal to be found.

We got out and walked the streets a bit, and also went in one of the more expensive shopping malls (because it was close and had air). I fell in love with a pair tangerine colored pair of Valentino heels through a window... so pretty.

This morning was our appointment. It went well, and we got our referral! Step one, check.

It is always nerve-racking to be in situations, especially formal ones, where you can't speak the language and have no clue what people are saying about you. The lady who held our appointment was very friendly, so that helped a lot. There were general questions, like "when did you meet them?" There was also a crazy moment, when they mentioned that one of the girls older siblings was only 17 (we thought he was well over 18) and would we want to adopt him as well, if the director deemed them to have a relationship. It was an ????!!!!!????!!!!??? moment. Before we could really respond, she stepped out of the room. A few minutes later she reappeared, and her and our facilitator called the orphanage director. We could hear the director almost shouting on the other end of the phone... apparently he is not the biggest fan of their brother. After speaking with him, and talking with the SDA official some more, our facilitator relayed that the girls apparently do not have a relationship with him, and his whereabouts are actually unknown at this time.

The interview sort of abruptly ended, and we were told we would receive the referral. We pick it up tomorrow afternoon, and will head out of Kyiv on the overnight train to Lugansk. We should hopefully have our first appointment there on Monday.

Right now we still have power, internet, and air conditioning. Woohoo! Also we were able to locate a decent hamburger, a really cool little coffee place, and some above-average pizza withing a block or so from the apartment. Shane is about to run over to the market across the street for a few things and then we're going to get some work done.

Tonight we will venture out again on our own... wish us luck! :)

Thanks for everything you guys have done.

Cute Picture of the Day

2010-03-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

My friend sent this to me. I don't know who it is, or what it is from... but it makes me so happy.

humbled

2010-03-08T07:38:00.001-08:00

I am constantly humbled and find myself in a state awe over our friends, and how extremely blessed we are by them. I am truly convinced that they are a rare thing. I don't know what we did to deserve them, but I truly thank God and praise Him for putting them into our lives.

Today, like many days, is such an occasion.

A group of friends has been putting together a benefit dinner, to help raise funds for our adoption expenses. I received the invitation today, and went to the blog they have started - and am having fight back the tears at my work desk.

That they are using their many extraordinary talents (did I mentioned how talented they all are?? every single one of them?? It is crazy and intimidating), much valuable time, financial resources, and more to help us bring the girls home is beyond anything I could ever repay or thank them for... words just don't seem like enough (especially when I am not very good with words to begin with).

But I will attempt to anyway.

For all of our friends, and also the anonymous people who have contributed, prayed, and given of themselves...

Thank you guys, we love you so so very much. We are going to make it through this process retaining our sanity because of you. You are why we are not only going to be able to bring our girls home - but bring them home knowing they will be surrounded by the best friends, family, support system, and godly influences that people could ever hope to have.

Western Church and Christian Outrage

2010-03-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

Post about some of the biggest issues affecting the western church today.

Post about "Misguided Christian Outrage."

Great posts... I especially love a couple of lines from the latter - "What if we loved the world through verbal proclamation and self-sacrificial giving, not by seeking product placement for the Trinity?"

also...

"... it's more Christian than pouting when our culture mavens misspell "Elohim" on the golden calves we've asked them to make for us."

I would provide some "commentary", and my thoughts... but I am at work! (and these people are way smarter than I am anyway!)

STRAIGHT QUOTE MARKS

2010-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

Any designer who is trained in print design and/or typography would probably tell you that a big pet peeve is straight quote marks. Actually inch marks, they are far too frequently used as quote marks - and make me cringe each and every time I see them. Using an inch mark as an apostrophe is the same thing.

I read a post today about this very peeve.

Here are more equally bad examples of type for all you design geeks out there.

clients from hell

2010-03-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

One blog that I check out frequently is Clients from Hell. It is a rolling list of reader submitted comments by and/or conversations with clients. I go there to empathize, and remind myself I am not the only one. They are graphic design related, but I think anyone can appreciate the humor.

These are a few of my favorites that have been on there recently...

______

Client: “The blue isn’t right.”

Me: “What PMS color are we trying to match?”

Client: “Oh, you know, the color of the Texas sky around daybreak.”

______

Client: “I hate this new font. Use the first one I showed you. This one makes the site look cheap instead of elegant.”

Me: The ‘cheap’ font was Georgia, the ‘elegant’ font was Georgia Italic.

______

Client: “It’s a great design. Beautiful, classic, elegant and sleek. It hits everything on our wish list, can we add in some cheetah or leopard print?”

______

Client: I showed it to my son and he didn’t like it, and he’s like the coolest 20-year-old ever.

______

Client: “We like the design, but could you make the blues all the same.”

Me: “It’s the same blue through out the design.”

Client: “It looks like different blues.”

Me: “That’s because colors are perceived differently dependent on neighboring colors.”

Client: “That’s stupid.”

New pictures and a video!

2010-02-15T17:57:00.001-08:00

We received a few new photos, courtesy of Suzette and Gabe Davie, who are in Ukraine right now! These were taken at the Valentine's Day Party the Dukes had at the orphanage...

AND... singing!

awesome literary tees

2010-02-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

Super cool literary tees by Out of Print.

be my valentine

2010-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

We don't really "celebrate" Valentine's Day. However, loving invitations and paper like do - I greatly enjoy any holiday that provides an excuse to produce great looking cards, etc... here are a few that I find particularly delightful:

This first one is my fav! I would be extremely stoked to receive this. (You can't really tell from the picture, but it is cut out of a dictionary page, and the word at the bottom that is circled is "wonderful." Sigh. So pretty.)

I love Night Owl Paper Goods' style...

eggpress is always great...

and one more!

5 yrs

2010-02-05T05:56:00.000-08:00

Today is Shane's and my 5 year wedding Anniversary... I can't believe it!

Then:

Today (well, a couple of months ago):

We are going to Flip for lunch with Shane's grandmother... and then going to one of my FAVS, Gianmarco's tonight for dinner. (Hello pounds-I-have-recently-lost... nice to see you again.)

BONUS: I am off work today.

I win.

LOST/dogs

2010-01-28T12:23:00.001-08:00

LOST starts back next week. So so so excited.

In celebration, here are some super-awesomely designed LOST posters by Mattson Creative. I would love to have these screen printed, and hanging in my house.

In other news. We have THE WORST dogs to ever live. We have now built a pen INSIDE of our privacy fence - and they are still getting out. The picture below shows the guilty parties after being rounded up, and put back in "the rock."

Bailey is disgusting and ashamed. Rowdy is very loudly letting us know just how ticked off he is, and that no pen will hold him back.

Shane has a really funny/maddening post about their latest hijinks here.

my life

2010-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Someone made a cartoon of my career.

This one deals specifically with a website, but no worries - it applies to every other aspect of design as well.

Christmas time...

2010-01-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great this year... we started off the holidays with family, then met up with some friends for a few days in Baltimore and D.C. I can't believe it has already come and gone, and that it is 2010!

My favorite things that we got to see in D.C. were by far the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the World War II Memorial. This is a period of history that I am obsessed with anyway, so to see these two things was amazing.

My great-granddad fought under Patton in the war, and returned home with an injured leg and stories of being hidden in the potato cellars of small villages to avoid capture by the Nazis. I wish I had been older while he was alive so that I would have realized the piece of history that I had in him... so that I could have known to ask questions, get stories...

Both of them - the WWII memorial and Holocaust Museum - are a hard to talk about. Hard to talk about in the way that there really are not words to adequately describe, or give justice to the feelings evoked...

We didn't get near enough time in D.C., so I hope to go back very soon!

Sometimes Mondays Trick You

2009-12-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Monday's trick you, and they are amazing. They may start out typical, you may be running late, have a ridicu-crazy day at work, and get stuck in traffic for 20 minutes going from Williams Sonoma to Pottery Barn in the Summit parking lot....

but lo, and behold — Monday slaps you in the face with awesomeness.

Last night I met some of my dear friends - and bible study group (minus Senia) - Tris, Cara, and Ruth at the new restaurant Flip. Flip is owned by Richard Blais, former Top Chef finalist, Iron Chef Competitor, and owner of a couple of restaurants in Atlanta.

When we walked in, there stood Richard Blais himself! We proceeded to have a conversation with him, where we all instantly became bff. Throughout the rest of the evening he proceeded to bring us free food, visit our table several times, thouroughly explain the fois gras milkshake, take a picture with us, and hold the door open for us on our way out.

He loved us.

I could not have been more excited.

Did I mention that Sara Evans and Jay Barker were sitting a couple of tables away from us?

That's just how we roll guys.

Ruth has a much more detailed account here.

another one...

2009-12-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

confusion on aol today...

2009-12-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

I checked my aol email account today... and was presented with this ad:

Yes. It is a mortgage refinancing ad.

Yes. It is a depiction of what I can only assume is Jesus.

I am confused.

awe.some.

2009-12-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some pretty rad things I have seen lately...

Push Your Luck postcard series

This AMAZING series of photos

Beautiful find on etsy. I want all of this series...

Modern Bird lunch bags

Super fantastic letterpress holiday cards from egg press.... sigh.

Fun pillow with a fantastic design from Urban Outfitters...

Several of these are letterpress - can you tell I heart letterpress??

I love beautiful things.... ;)

videos from ukraine!!!

2009-11-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

This is a link for a video montage that Tiffany, one of the ladies on the trip with me, put together.

And here are videos of a couple of a couple of specific girls singing... the younger in the talent show, the older leading worship.

8 ways to kill an idea

2009-11-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

As of late...

2009-11-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

I got back from Ukraine a couple of weeks ago. It was, of course, amazing. I didn't want to leave, and I miss the kids every hour of every single day. It was such a special and amazing time. The camp was amazing, God did so many incredible things - and He moved in the hearts of many. Aside from the camp, a few of us got to visit a couple of local churches and villages - as well as an invalid orphanage (something I will have to write about another day).

The kids in Belerechensky have my heart. A few in particular. During the time I was there, God confirmed to Shane and me that we were to begin the adoption process. SO, we are officially filing the first of many forms tomorrow. We have many more forms, interviews, background checks, a homestudy, many months, and much money to go... so we dearly appreciate everyone's prayers.

We are pursuing 2 sisters - "S" and "M." Please be in prayer for them in particular. On top of the difficult lives they have faced thus far, it is very overwhelming scary to move to another country and culture, not know very many people, and not be able to speak the language.

Shane posted a blog as well...

More info to come!

Lately

2009-10-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting much lately, things have just been super crazy. I leave for Ukraine in the morning, but when I get back things should calm down.

I have also been sidelined since Sunday w/ a minor chemical burn on my eye - so that has been super awesome. Spending a week w/ a patch on is not fun - especially when your job is on the computer all day. head. ache. Advil has definitely been my friend this week. The fabulous Eric Chapman took the picture below, to document my stint as a pirate...

Back to tomorrow. I leave for Ukraine. This will be my 4th year there... 3rd year working with the same orphanage, plus a couple of others. I am so ready to be back there, see my kiddos... eat cabbage and potatoes. The whole schpiel.

I ask that you would keep our team in your thoughts and prayers, and I can't wait to fill you guys in when I get back!

Sidenote: Here is an article that is funny/interesting. These poor guys just keep swinging away - trying to get a hit....

Nobel Peace Prize... er... joke

2009-10-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has committed itself to outdoing its own level of ridiculousness each year... this year Obama... next year, Bozo the Clown.

I was pretty disappointed last year when Al Gore won over Irena Sendler, but wow. They have really outdone themselves this year.

There are people out there in the world actually doing things to make a difference, bring about change, and are LITERALLY making life better for so many. Unfortunately it seems above average public speaking skills, and a penchant for having world-wide apology tours will do the job now.

Sign me up. I could use 1.4 million dollars.

Ok. Sigh. Deep breath. Hissy fit over.

Someone sent me a blog a while ago, thinking I would be interested - and I definitely was. I suggest you check it out, it is truly amazing and a joy to follow.

kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

Katie was called to Africa as a senior in high school. She went there after graduation and is still there now (after returning to the US for 1 semester of college), as a single woman in her very early twenties. She has built her organization, Amazima Ministries, up so that they are now providing medical care, school fees, meals, and discipleship to 400 Ugandan children. She is also personally fostering and being a mother to 14... yes 14... girls in her home there.

Now THAT. Is making a difference.

great article

2009-09-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092802484.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

invitations and dissapointing myself

2009-09-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

How these two things go together is a little random, however...

First, minted.com is a great source for invitations and stationary. They also have a design contest every couple of months. I entered a few invitations in their latest contest - so if you have time, I would love for you to take a look and vote on them! (The winners are decided by public vote.) Here are the links:

1 2 3 4 5 6

I am happy with a couple of them... but most of them are not to the level that they could have been - which makes me frustrated with myself. I have been having a hard time lately putting in the time and effort that I need to for my personal design. Between my full-time job, and my freelance... the last thing I want to do at night is more design. Even if it is designing the things I love, things that are fun, etc. So... like in the case of the invitations - I either put it off, or do it half-way. Boo on me, and my procrastination.

For instance, I have for months been procrastinating on Upper Air (which is our design company to be). BUT, I am making a deadline for myself - right now - that before I go to Ukraine on October 23, I WILL have a website designed. Somehow, someway. It will happen. Hold me to it.

article

2009-09-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6221379/The-UN-loves-Barack-Obama-because-he-is-weak.html

back to reality

2009-09-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last few days in Seagrove/Seaside with some of my dearest friends... an overload of freelance work put a slight damper on it - but all in all it was a great trip, and it is always fantastic to get away... esp to get away with such great friends. I had a great shrimp po-boy, a fabulous meal at Paradis, and a really awesome fried pickle (which I would normally not like) that Cara was good enough to share.

Shane ended up not going, and instead went up to Ohio to see an Indians game, and to watch one of their minor leagues teams play. Our friend Josh has a cousin that plays for them... so those two, along with Brooks, made an insanely quick trip up there to see the games. I do not envy the 20-something hours they spent in the car over a couple of days... But they had a great time, so that is all that matters.

Since Shane didn't go to the beach (which was all couples), Cara was my date. So even though he couldn't be there, I am glad it worked out so she could go!

Now I am back to work. Not as fun as the beach.

Pretties

2009-09-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Some pretty (or pretty cool) things I have seen in the last couple of days...

1) A book on etsy.

I would love to design some little things like this. Book/poster/and invitation design are my loves. I am planning to start an etsy shop at some point... too many things to do and too little time! :)

2) One of my favorite color combos for a while has been aqua and a light orange-y coral-y color. I found this colorboard a while back, and this bouquet - which makes me want to have another wedding so I can have a bouquet just like it (the whole wedding looks like it was magical... yes, wedding, I would so rip you off). This color combo has become quite the trend, as of late - it seems to be popping up everywhere.

3) These postcards from yellow owl worshop - GREAT. I wish I were going to New York tomorrow!

4) I have mentioned Hatch Show Print on here before - love them. Another great letterpress print shop is Yeehaw Industries. They have a fantastic new series called "Old Time Forest Pickers" out. You can find them on etsy too!

Last, but not least, this preciousness. yes, please.

CONGRATS!

2009-09-01T07:54:00.001-07:00

Congrats to our dear friends Ruth and David! They found out the twins are going to be girls!!!!

Shane is happy for you guys... and is glad he is not David, who will have to deal with not one—but two teenage girls dating at the same time.

The girls names are actually two that were on "my list". Which is totally random because they are a little unusual. Ruthie-T, we are just alike :)

Speaking of Good Design...

2009-08-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Check out Mellow Mushrooms new website here.

Make sure you click on the various areas up at the top... the page loaders are all different.

So fun.

Pizza anyone?

Awesome Book Cover Art

2009-08-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

I love love LOVE book cover art, and therefor visit several book cover art sites and blogs regularly. Reading is my favorite, and I also love poster design.... seeing as how book covers are like tiny posters—in a way—it makes sense that I love them.

I get aggravated, because the European editions of books are often much cooler than their American counterparts. This also means that I can usually not find them, or if I do find them, they would have to be ordered from the UK and cost a fortune.

One of the best designs I have seen lately is a new edition of Orwell's 1984. It is breath-taking.

Notice the Title and Author are only on the spine. The cover, and back cover, are slogans/themes from the book. Amazing. Brilliant. So jealous that I didn't design this.

Props to the designer, and the UK division of Penguin Books... who (with Penguin Classics) by the way, is helping lead the charge in fantastic book design. To design book covers for them would be... a dream.

I also want these more than my next breath...

but I haven't even been able to find where to order them. boo. I am sure they cost one billion dollars, so Shane is probably very happy that I can't find them. (The website where I first found them has a link to supposedly purchase, but the website it directs you to is under construction.)

Good design makes me happy. Good design makes me not hate design.

happys

2009-08-13T10:47:00.001-07:00

Anthropologie makes me happy. I love everything they do. They are way more expensive than what I am comfortable with spending for everything—However, I can look... and drool.

love this hat.

and this dress and purse...

Did I mention they also have things for your home?

perfection.

In June Anthropologie crossed forces with one of my favorite print shops, Hatch Showprint, for their June catalog.

awesome-ness and brilliance.

sigh.

Help Stop Obamacare

2009-08-12T09:08:00.001-07:00

here

Grandmother Etheredge

2009-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Grandmother Etheredge

Whiskers

2009-07-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

The pet bunny of a good friend of mine passed away last night, and this got me thinking about the stint my own family had with a pet bunny.

It began around the summer of 1986(ish). Our family was at the lake, escaping the sweltering Alabama heat with swimming, skiing, and watermelon. The day had begun to draw to a close, when our neighbor came over holding what looked like a mass of dark brown hair. This mass turned out to be a wig, in the middle of which nested a very tiny—very young—baby bunny... which was missing one leg. The adults came to the conclusion that it had been abandoned by it's mother because of the deformity - and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles... my mother agreed to let us keep him. Oh the magic that happens at the lake.

(I think she thought he would surely die during the night.)

We named him Whiskers, fed him from an eyedropper with a formula obtained from wildlife rescue, and proceeded to integrate him into the family.

Whiskers did not integrate well. He was crotchety, and would bite and kick whenever the mood struck. He inexplicably managed to cover the dining room with paper, poo, water, and food... all from the comforts of his cage in the corner. Despite these things, we thought he was completely awesome - and loved to show off our "wild" 3-legged rabbit to our friends.

Whiskers was with us a couple of years, until another fateful, sweltering summer rolled around - and my mom decided she had had enough. Maybe it was the heat... the bitten fingers of house guests... or the cage she struggled to keep clean - but mom orchestrated "The Release."

We dutifully planned the event, and determined it must be at the location of his discovery - the lake, which we were headed to that weekend. Whiskers would be returned to the wild, and hopefully rejoin his bunny family - who were mourning their careless decision to abandon him some two years ago.

A salad was carefully prepared — iceberg lettuce, radishes, carrots... all the things a bunny loves. And we marched down the road, and several yards into the woods. We dumped out the salad, and lowered the struggling Whiskers to the ground. He took off like a shot, and never looked back.

It was a little anti-climatic.

I was around 8 at the time of "The Release." Now of course, looking back, I realize that Whiskers probably survived all of about 2 minutes until he met his demise.

Poor Whiskers.

Great Articles

2009-07-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

On Obama's proposed healthcare innitiative:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970203517304574306533556532364.html

It's much easier to raise taxes if you don't pay them....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574300013592601036.html

most awesome things i have seen lately

2009-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

#1 was on the Today's show today. I am jealous I didn't do this at my wedding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

#2 is all true. Must watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

Why. Did we. Do this.

2009-07-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Obama's nominee for "Science Czar", John Holdren, penned a 1977 book that approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases, as part of a government population control regime.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/21/obamas-science-czar-considered-forced-abortions-sterilization-population-growth/

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obamas-science-czar-suggested-compulsory-abortion-sterilization-50783612.html

Also, the "Regulatory Czar" apparently wants to establish legal 'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals to file lawsuits in American courts.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/21/obama-regulatory-czars-confirmation-held-hunting-rights-proponent/

what????????

What have we, as a country, allowed ourselves to get into?

Also, interesting (slash scary) quote:

"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." by Norman Thomas (1884-1968) six-time U.S. Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America

Dems sneaking in more legislation

2009-07-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14793299

Healthcare Reforms / Abortion funding

2009-07-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

An amendment added to the new Health Care Reform bills
recently proposed by the House Democratic Leadership
(the "Tri-Committee bill"), and a similar bill proposed
by Senator Ted Kennedy, could result in mandatory
insurance coverage of elective abortion, in a great
expansion of abortion clinics, and in federal subsidies
for abortion.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.,
would require health insurance companies to contract with
organizations like Planned Parenthood.

I am trying to research more details... but I am definitely
contacting my representatives to vote against it. Especially
if it means my tax dollars would be helping to fund these
programs... and/or that my taxes would be increased because
of the costs associated w/ the proposed healthcare reform -
which I am against anyway.



http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090715/pro-lifers-blast-attempt-to-smuggle-abortion-mandates-into-health-reform-bill/index.html


http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/16/1998749.aspx


http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=602360


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Senate-health-bill-would-mandate-abortion-coverage-50402642.html

B Easy Lil Craw

2009-07-17T14:21:00.001-07:00

No. I was not the lady murdered by her husband on a cruise this week. Neither was Senia.

We just got back from the Bahamas last night. Great trip, I wish I were still there. I am not doing anything productive today in protest of having to return home.

Before I elaborate on the actual trip - let me mention the ride down. We stopped at one point for a bathroom break somewhere in the middle of Georgia at an old gas station that had a hand-painted BP sign. In the parking lot was a car, which bore the following words on the back windshield. "B EASY LIL CRAW - In memory of J "Lil Craw" Crawford. We proceeded inside through the door adorned with a Confederate-battle-flag-themed peace frog sticker (ironic to anyone else??), to the not-so-great bathroom—out from which came a woman and two small children clothed in underwear and t-shirts (no pants, no shoes - on the kids, the woman was at least wearing pants).

Wow. No words.

We headed on to Jacksonville, and boarded the ship. Thus began a week of sun, sleep, reading, turquoise water... and lots of food. We ate so much. I gained 3 lbs—which by looking at the week's progression of photos, went directly to my face. Shane had 4 lobster tails in one night (not to mention everything else throughout the week) so I am thinking we made our money back on food alone.

I had several firsts on the trip... Fed a stingray, had said stingray spurt water in my face, sailed on a catamaran, ate escargot, and saw the shuttle launch (it was basically just a little speck of fire and a smoke trail - but I say it counts).

I also read 5 books - which rocked. One of which was The Virgin Suicides—was was FANTASTIC by the way.

The water was so beautiful, completely clear... so we had a great time playing around on the beach, swimming, going snorkeling, etc.

Yay for vacation!

Senia, Brooks, Shane and me with our waiter Arwin.

Half Moon Cay.

Me swimming on Half Moon Cay.

Senia's and my toes.

A tiny island we sailed past on the way to the reef to snorkle.

Sailing back to Paradise Island, where Nassau is located.

One of the forts we visited.

Another fort shot.

Brooks.

Shane.

On the tender to Half Moon Cay

"Formal" night.

Invite Competition

2009-07-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

I entered a couple of Save-the-Date designs into a design competition on minted.com (which sells SUPER CUTE invites, etc)

They are inspired by Hatch show-print, and are not the typical super wedding-y save-the-date...

The contest is chosen by public vote, so if you are interested... go and vote! My friend Katie Beth also entered a couple.

The links are below! :)

http://www.minted.com/design-rating&id=5261

http://www.minted.com/design-rating&id=5254

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/5336

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/5262

Catching Up with Runaway Dogs

2009-07-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

SO the past couple of weeks have been really busy. As usual, eh? Just to catch up...

I love the 4th. I love my country. The 4th is one of my favorite holidays.

4th of July ritual usually includes spending the weekend at the Lake. This year was no exception. Shane stayed here in Birmingham to go to his sister's birthday, etc. I packed up the puppies and headed down to Lake Martin. Not thinking about Rowdy's all encompassing fear of loud noises, I didn't bother to consider that maaaaaaybe he wouldn't absolutely LOVE fireworks.

People, of course, began shooting off fireworks Friday mid-day... with increased frequency throughout the afternoon. Around 6:30 or so, I noticed Rowdy was missing.

And the search began.

We looked for hours... walked around... drove up and down back roads, screamed ourselves hoarse, etc. I finally retired to the house around 10:30 for a night of no sleep. I convinced myself he had gotten in the lake to swim, was spooked by fireworks, got disoriented, and drowned... all that jazz.

Got back up around 5:30 and started driving around again... finally, around 9:30, driving down the road... several miles away from our cabin - there he was running for his life toward highway 9. Homeward bound. Covered in burrs and red mud.

I can't say how relieved I was.

Until the next night, the 4th, when he—once again—kept me up the entire night barking at the fireworks. I then considered taking him right back where I found him and dumping him out on the road.

Oh, dogs.

command S

2009-07-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Books

2009-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Books are my fav (along with homemade chocolate chips cookies, and trips to places I have never been, and... well, ok - I have a few favs). But I love them. I could read from the moment I wake up, until I lay my head down at night.

I have always loved to read. My 5th grade teacher gave me the "Nose-in-a-book" award at the end of the school year (thanks Mrs. Thompson, those ATL kids didn't already think I was enough of a nerd)... My mom would let me sit in the book section of Walmart while she shopped. It actually saved her a good bit of pocket change, since I could pretty much get through any Babysitters Club or Sweet Valley High book in one trip.

I have come across a few people lately, asking for advice on good books... so I have really been trying to think about my favorites. It is hard, because I love so many.

So here goes a list of some of my greatest loves, in no particluar order... try some out - they are all magnificant. The kind that make you want to read slower, because you don't want them to ever end...

• Night

• The Zookeeper’s Wife

• A Heart of Stone

• All Over But the Shoutin’

• Things Fall Apart

• Everything Is Illuminated

• Number the Stars

• My Brother Sam is Dead

• Witches

• Matilda

• A Little Princess

• Pride and Prejudice

• Under The Tuscan Sun

• Emma

• Reading Lolita in Tehran

• (also, if you like poetry, and have never read her... read some of Anna Akhmatova)

I always have more as well, if you are interested... Enjoy!

Free The Blogs

2009-07-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

nuff said

Shane's Post

2009-06-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

a post by shane

Just like a Man ;)

2009-06-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

All the men in the house on Sunday night, after being at the lake....

Fried Green Grape Tomatoes?

2009-06-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Sad news.

In the storm yesterday, one of my tomato plants got blown over. The grape tomato plant. So just about ALL of the green, on the cusp of starting to ripen, grape tomatoes got knocked off.

I seriously almost cried.

I gathered all the green tomatoes off the ground, and they are sitting in a bowl on my counter. I feel as thought there is something I can do with them???? Maybe fry them??? Have baby fried green tomatoes?

Missy's 50

2009-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

SO my mom turned 50 last week... and this weekend we had a party for her. It was mostly family, but a couple of her close friends came as well. She wasn't too excited about this milestone in her life - but we helped her make it past the hump with a feather boa, gravestone signs and over-the-hill decor. Ha.

My mom is the world's WORST picture taker. She doesn't want them taken in the first place - and then when you get her to, she almost refuses to smile. So you have to be sneaky. But when you are sneaky, most pictures end up with her looking drunk or crazy.

To our dismay, it was overcast and rained most of Saturday. However, The dogs—as usual—had a blast. We have STEVE, the Robinson's lab, for a few days-so he went with us. Rowdy, Steve, and Bailey were huge pals... and spent the weekend swimming and chasing sticks. Mason, my sister's dog, DID not become huge pals with STEVE - and tried to start fights at every opportunity. As a result Mason got himself tied up for the better part of the weekend, since he refused to work well with others. Also, there was a female chocolate lab that kept wandering over... both Steve and Mason were trying to be - uh - romantic with her. Also, we think Mason was jealous that Rowdy was spending his time with Steve because Rowdy and Mason are usually BFF.

Here are all the poor puppies trying to look pitiful, and begging to be let in. Rowdy is barking for all he is worth.

Rowdy was so tired, he sat still for more than 2 seconds. I actually got to take a few "portraits", some of which turned out pretty good...

Baby's First Veggies

2009-06-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to eat healthier, eat more organically, yadda yadda. I also want to be more self-sufficient. SO, I started a small garden this year. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time, am really enjoying... and am already looking forward to enlarging it next year. I started everything in containers, and am moving it all to a raised bed garden that Shane built.

A few of my plants are in the initial stages of production - and I have one grape tomato that is just about ready to pick... hmm, what feast shall I create?? ha.

I started making a homemade organic bug spray last night out of onion, garlic, and jalapeno... so we will see if it works. It is kind of a combo of a couple of ideas I found online about creating organic bug spray, etc. Hopefully it will work, and I won't just be giving all the bugs a fiesta.

Short Long Weekend

2009-06-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

A fabulous weekend is, much to my dismay, winding down.

We drove down to Seagrove Beach on Friday morning, and spent the weekend there with Shane's mom, grandmother, and sister. I love Seagrove. It is tucked in along several other quaint little towns like Seaside, Alyc Beach, and Rosemary Beach. Seagrove is wonderful... it is a little less trendy, and a more comfortable version of some of the others. You can take dogs on the beach, and it is also a nesting ground for sea turtles.

I love the beach. I love getting up and taking long, early morning walks by myself... and then doing it again at sunset. There are usually less people out at those points, which is another plus.

The ocean is one of the few things that can really make me relax. The sound, the smell... the colors. It makes me want to paint, and read, and write, and just be. And the food. Is there anything better? Fresh fish... steamed shrimp... icy cold drinks.

Needless to say, the weekend went by WAY too fast.

We did, however, get to end it back here in Birmingham with an evening celebrating Ben's birthday with some of our dearest friends.

Good times.

Tomorrow night Your Mom's Team plays at 8:30! Come and watch!

Toms Shoes

2009-06-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

I just ordered a pair of Toms! Woohoo!

It was hard to decide... army green? yellow stripes? I bit the bullet and went with the red madras - although the vote republican ones were super cute as well! :)

If you didn't know, Tom's shoes gives away one pair of shoes to children in need for every pair bought.

tomsshoes.com

Farmer's market and Yummy-ness

2009-05-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the farmer's market, and took Rowdy. He is always a HUGE hit, and we constantly get comments about how cute he is, etc. Too bad people don't realize what lies beneath the surface of that little charmer. One family of four stopped us, and said they had been thinking of getting a border collie. They proceeded to question us about his personality, etc. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but I felt I had to tell them about how high maintenance they are, and how much exercise he needs - or else you will face his wrath.... and torn up blinds, carpet, shoes (the list goes on). Good thing he is so cute...

We also went by Whole Foods and Dreamcakes (heaven!) afterward. Rowdy was tuckered out, and was literally falling asleep sitting up in the car.

One of my favorite things to do is cook, especially in order to try new recipes... or create new recipes. I want this blog to be a bit of a "foodie" blog - so hopefully there will lots of posts about recipes, restaurants, etc., to come.

Today we grilled out for a late lunch. We grilled cajun seasoned tuna (FRESH caught yellow-fin tuna - thanks Katie Beth!) with Mango salsa. We also had coconut-cilantro rice, and summer berry crisps. We served it all with one of our favorite beverages... a Moscat-Di-Asti we had on our honeymoon, called Saracco.

YUM.

Shane has been really getting into all things food as well, and has started learning to cook various dishes. He has a few amazing soup recipes he has perfected, as well a mean cornbread - which is great, because as much as I HATE to admit it... I am not good at cornbread.

He also, a few weeks ago, made homemade cookies for the first time - and they were AMAZING! White Chocolate and Chocolate Chip cookies... I got a pic for proof!

The Lake

2009-05-31T15:51:00.000-07:00

My grandparents have owned a small cabin on Lake Martin since my dad was a teenager. From the time I was a baby, my summers were spent there... swimming, walking the red dirt roads, picking blackberries, and getting insane cases of poison ivy. The roads changed from dirt to gravel to blacktop over the years, but it is still like a breath of fresh air when my car turns off of highway 9. Although I don't get to go down nearly as often as I like, we try to spend as many weekends as possible there.

The Lake is like Disney Land to our dogs, and we literally cannot keep Rowdy and Bailey out of the water. Shane has to drag Bailey out by her collar, and force her to have time outs - or else I do believe she would swim herself to death. Rowdy runs down the hill and to the edge of the water, then stares up at the house and barks until he convinces one of us - sometimes a fellow canine will do - to come and join him in the water.

By far their favorite thing is to swim after sticks thrown out as far as we can get them. They only bring them back about 1 out of 5 times... preferring to swim out, tag up, and come back empty handed. Then they proceed to bark until we find another appropriate branch, and the game resumes.

Memorial day proved to be rainy and gray, but the dogs didn't notice!

Side-note: Rowdy was weirdo on the way there. He normally does not like to cuddle, etc., but for some reason he kept crawling out of the back of Shane's Rodeo and into my lap and then onto the floorboard by my feet. Don't know why - but I love it when he decides he wants to snuggle! :)

Be on the lookout...

2009-05-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

For lots of pics coming soon! Featured subjects will be Mason the Wonder-Dog, The Saddest Puppies that Ever Lived, Dad's Graduation, Little-Bit and Jackson, and much more!

Now if I could only find my card reader....

The Past Few Weeks

2009-05-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

The past month or so has been crazy, as I have mentioned... I won't bore you with details of my job and/or freelance - so I will just stick to some of the, shall we say, brighter spots.

My co-worker, Laurel-Dawn, got married. It was a beautiful wedding, and she was absolutely stunning. Her fiance suprised her with the blue Manolo Blahniks that Carrie wears in the Sex and the City movie - SO very fantastic.

Here is the happy couple leaving the church...

And here is Shane and I cuttin' a rug at the reception!

The season also started for our co-ed softball team, " Your Mom's Team." It has been pretty awesome. We have only lost one game so far - and that was because we were all just having a totally off night. Brooks and Shane are taking it VERY seriously. I have to keep reminding them that we are here to have fun, and to be careful - or they won't have a team next year. Ha.

This is our awesome jersey Shane designed...

... and here are some pictures our friend Drew took at a recent game!

My Apologies

2009-05-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

It has been several weeks since I have been able to put together a blog. I have been drowning in work, both at my "real" job and with freelance. So much so, that I have barely checked email, facebook, blog, phone messages, etc. So I apologize friends and family - I love you dearly, and I hope to enter life again soon. If I haven't responded to your efforts to contact me, I beg your forgiveness and promise that the next few weeks will be a little slower for me! I also have several things to post, so I will be putting them up tonight/tomorrow! Get ready for blog post overload!

also

2009-04-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

Randall is gone. His fate is unknown

AND

worst logo ever

Tonight

2009-04-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am really missing a group of kids from a small orphanage near Lugansk, Ukraine. A couple in particular. I won't go on, because the few people that will read this know all about it—so I will just post a couple of pics...

To Dance or Not to Dance

2009-04-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Shane and I attended the wedding of a co-worker. Beautiful wedding. LD was gorgeous.

After the sit down dinner, there was dancing - which of course we participated in... though it seems I may need to reconsider that choice in the future. Halfway through the second song, Shane proceeded to inform me that dancing with me is like attempting to wrestle the love child of a grizzly bear and a jack rabbit... that I bounce a lot and refuse to be lead.

Hmmmmm.

Dr. Dance anyone?

when the rooster crows

2009-04-25T11:19:00.001-07:00

As I was eating lunch today, Shane poked his head in from the backyard and told me to come outside, he needed to show me something.

I took a second to get out there, and when I finally did - Shane was peering through the planks of the fence into our neighbor's yard. Just as I was about to ask what in the world he was doing, I heard it.

A very robust "Cock-a-doodle-dooooooooooooooooo"

Yes. Our neighbors now have a rooster. He is a very stately looking fellow, with a black tail, white chest with black spots, and a red crested head. Really very pretty... for a rooster. He is in a small cage that has two bricks on top, and is furnished with an upside-down green frisbee - that I can only assume is his water dish.

He is also very loud, as roosters are.

(Also, yes. Shane and I live in Alabaster. In a neighborhood. Of garden homes.)

He fits well into our neighbor's backyard. Which is regularly adorned with a broke down car, a trashcan full of empty beer bottles spilling onto the lawn, tools scattered about, a green power wheels truck. toys, a weight bench, and other random household items.

Shane and I are betting on the fate of the rooster. I think cock fight... he thinks they are going to get some hens to grow chickens - and act like farm animals are perfectly suited for a street of garden homes within the city limits. So we'll see. For now I'll call him Randall.

Just saying...

2009-04-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

My closest friends know I have a secret fear of aliens—and of course I would say no, they don't exist...

HOWEVER...

Marley Has Nothing On This Guy

2009-04-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight we came home after a lovely evening of softball practice, and upon pulling into the driveway, found ourselves staring through the double windows into our living room.

Staring into our living room, to our Border Collie standing on our cushion-less couch.

Staring into our living room because our Border Collie had knocked all the cushions off, and completely shredded and ripped down the plantation blinds that were there to prevent all the staring into the living room.

This would have been distressing enough, but this is the third time this has happened in the past five days. Yes. Third set. In five days. (Twice on this window, once to the kitchen window)

The Alabaster Lowes has a better bottom line this week because of us, and our investment into their faux wood plantation blinds.

So this will be added to the list... the one with the destroyed Pottery Barn rug, the carpet that we will have to replace before moving, the random couch pillows, shoes, etc.....

Yay. Good times.

for real this time

2009-04-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

As you can see from big "I am starting a blog!" announcement post below... it has been about 2 months, and no blogging.

The truth is, I have been pretty insecure about getting this thing started. It is pretty intimidating to thrust myself into the blogosphere when I have so many interesting, intelligent, and witty friends— who have such delightful blogs already...

hello

2009-02-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

So I am going to try this blogging thing again. I can't promise to be overly witty, interesting, etc... but I CAN promise that I will attempt to use proper grammar and capital letters.