Delayed Weekend Post

Not that anyone cares (and not much of this post has to do with our adoption), but when deciding to blog I told myself this would be a good way to keep a journal, so this post is just for me to document how busy I think my life is now, so that once I have children I can look back and laugh :-)

I get off work at 1pm on Fridays which is great because I usually use the afternoon to run most of my weekly errands.  This Friday I was on a tight time constraint because Jason made me promise I would be ready to leave the house at 5:40 to head out of town.  I'm terrible at being ready to leave on time... so that is why he made me repeatedly promise.  Well, I got off work at 1, went to the bank, then to the print shop that is printing our adoption t-shirts, next I went to Joann's fabric store (it opened Friday... and was so unbelievably packed it made me nervous, but besides that, it quickly became my new favorite store), next I went to Dick's sporting goods to see if they had corn because Jason asked me to go grab the memory card out of the trail camera and put some more corn out for the deer, but of course, my luck, they were sold out of bags of corn.  After leaving Dick's I realized my gas light was on, so I had to stop and fill up, during the time it took to fill up my car, I realized it was way past lunch time so I made a quick run through the Micky D's drive through (gotta love a $2.99 value meal).  Then it was onto Ace Hardware, because I knew they would have corn.  I ran in quickly, asked the ladies at the front where to find the corn and they pointed me in the right direction.  Well... I grabbed the 50lb bag of corn and threw it over my shoulder, after deciding to be stubborn and refuse the help that was offered (remember I'm still in my nice work clothes).  I was just thinking about how far I have carried bags of corn in the woods before in order to fill up feeders, so I just knew I could make it to the check out counter.  When I leaned over to put the corn down on the counter to be checked out, the bag tore open and corn went all over the counter and floor :-(  thank goodness the ladies were laughing rather than getting mad at me.  They were trying to help me pick it all up, and they were worried about getting me another bag of corn.  When I refused because I was the stubborn one who tore the bag in the first place, they insisted on picking up as much corn as possible and putting it in a little paper sack so I could take it with me.  Little did they know, I was way more worried about being ready to leave by the time Jason got off work than I was about collecting a small fraction of the corn I had just purchased.  Everyone then joked when I refused help again when asked if I needed help carrying the bag out to my car.  Well, I made it to my car without any more corn casualties.  I then ate my hamburger and french fries while headed to my next stop... the toy store.  I went to the cutest little toy store on Ingleside to grab a present for my newphew who was turning one on Saturday.  Finally, I was headed home.  It was now about 4:30, so I had one hour to do a load of laundry, change, pack, and get everything together to head out the door.  Needless to say, when Jason got home at 5:30, I still wasn't ready... but, he was very patient and understanding.  We left the house around 6:00 to head to Gainesville for a much needed trip to visit some of our best friends that we have gone way too long without seeing.  On our way out of Macon, we stopped to check the trail camera pictures and to put the corn out.  Jason can't help it... he loves checking out the deer pictures.  About half way to Gainesville, we drove through a drive through for dinner, McDonald's again, haha, I'm probably the least healthy person alive... two meals from McDonald's in less than 5 hours :-) ... I'm lovin it... get it... haha... okay, sorry...  once we finally made it to Gainesville we stayed up talking and making this for my nephew (I got directions on how to make it on Andrea's blog here):

 The next morning we woke up just to hit the road again to help my sister get ready for Landen's first birthday party.  We didn't leave as early as we wanted, but that's okay, we got some much needed visiting time with great friends!  Here are some pictures of Landen's birthday party which turned out wonderful (great job Chelsie!).  I have never seen so many people at a one year old's birthday party, but I do know that Landen loved it.

The Birthday Boy!

Check out his cute birthday shirt

      His yummy Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake

Landen eating his very own smaller version of the Mickey cake

My favorite part of the party was how happy he got when we started singing Happy Birthday to him-I'd have to say he loved the attention!!!

Some help from Mommy and Daddy to blow out the candle

Happy 1st Birthday Landen! We love you!!

Now, a cute story about trying to explain our adoption plan to my seven year old nephew Taylor.  Here he is with a ring pop from Landen's party

I showed Taylor the little onesie I made Landen and I asked him if he knew what was on the shirt... he said, "America?" I then, in my head of course, questioned the Georgia public school system...j/k, I corrected him and told him it was Africa.  (Keep in mind this is my first time trying to explain adoption to a child.)  I told him there are a lot of babies and children in Africa who do not have a mommy or a daddy, and they are called orphans.  The completely devastated look on his face was so touching when he asked, "Why don't they have a mom or a dad?"  I told him that some people in Africa don't have much money and when they get sick they can't get to a hospital as easy as we can here, so the mom's and dad's get sick and can't always take care of their kids; then the children need someone to be their new mommy and daddy to love them and take care of them.  I told him that Jason and I are going to be one of those baby's new mommy and daddy.  His eyes got really big and he excitedly asked, "So... am I going to get another baby cousin?"  I told him yes, but that it would probably be a little while.  He said, "Well, if they need a mommy and daddy now, then why does it take so long?"  I explained to him that Jason and I have to talk to someone that will make sure we will be a good mommy and daddy, that we can take proper care of a baby, and that we have a safe house.  And then, he melted my heart.  He said, "But, I know you and Jason will be a good mom and dad!"  Oh man, if only I could use him as a reference on our home study paper work :-) 

After the party we headed home.  Spur of the moment, Jason decided to stop by his parent's house to talk to his dad for a minute.  While we were there it started storming so we decided to spend the night.  We woke up early Sunday morning to get home, get ready for church, and we were out the door again.  We had nursery duty at church, then went and ate lunch with some awesome NCCd folks.  When we got home we decided to work on painting our bathroom.  I painted until 6:30, then rushed to get all the paint cleaned up (Jason had already left with a friend), changed, and literally ran out the door to meet some girls for my friend Shelby's birthday dinner.

Then, I came home and crashed on the couch until Jason got home.

Sometimes it feels like all we do is drive, but weekends like this past one make it all so worth it!

So... what did you do this past weekend?   ;-)

An adoption update:  We mailed our initial home study packet on Tuesday, so we should hear back about that soon.  I don't exactly know what all is involved with a home study, but I am excited to learn.  The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can move along in the process!