Teaching Deidra about God...

She really has such a big heart for God...she goes to church every Sunday, she goes to Sunday school...and she asks questions about Jesus all the time. She even will repeat stuff from Father's homilies to us later on....she amazes me sometimes with the things that she remembers. She was playing in the sprinkler yesterday and said to my Mom as she was mixing dirt and water and making mud "Look it Grandma, I'm making wine just like Jesus did at the wedding at Cana." She is such a sponge and some of the things that she says is just so adorable "Mom, why doesn't God need to sleep?" We say prayers with her at night and she prays to Baby Jesus and Mama Mary and sometimes she just really seems to have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Back before she started kindergarten, I was really debating about whether to send her to Catholic school, or have her go to the Montessori school or homeschool her with the ABEKA curriculum. However, we were too worried about having her miss out on being in public school and doing all the social stuff involved with school. But, I did want her to learn about God and the bible and so forth. So, she started going to catechism at church. She loves it. I found a curriculum to teach her more that I am strongly considering doing with her this summer and she has already told me that she wants to go to Vacation Bible School as well. She went to that for a day or two last year when she started daycare down here and loved it! But, I really am thinking about getting the kindergarten curriculum to teach her more about the Bible.

http://www.discipleland.com/kindergarten.phtml

I think it would be something we'd have a lot of fun doing together over the summer. I love seeing her blossoming into such a sweet little girl with such a big heart for God and others. She really is such a blessing and I am so lucky to have her. Thank you, Abba, for my sweet little girl.

My smart little girl....

Deidra passed her TPRI testing with a perfect score. Wow! I am so proud of her! Oh...TPRI stands for Texas Primary Reading Inventory. It tests her on her letter sounds, rhyming words, blending word parts, blending phonemes, deleting inital sounds, deleting final sounds, letter name identification, letter to sound linking, and listening comprehension. I am just so proud of her. She's such a sponge and loves to learn. She is loving to read now as well and is doing so veyr awesome at it. I told Andy that I want to get a video of her reading to us and post it for everyone to see...she really is so smart!

Criminal History Checks for MI and IL

Well, we finally figured out where and what we needed. With MI, we could do them right online through the state police department...so I already got our results and e-mailed them to our social worker. With IL, I had to order the forms...so I'm hoping and praying that they'll come in the mail before the end of the week so we can fill them out, the check made out, and get them mailed back in so they can get our results back to us. I'm praying it won't take too long.

We passed our health inspection...

I was stressing out making sure everything was in it's place, that we remembered all the little things that we had to do, and that everything remained clean for our inspection. We passed....and I turned in most of the forms that she gave me on Friday. Our home study is being scheduled this week more than likely. I think we found out how to get our criminal checks from MI...now to just figure out IL. I feel a lot better now.

Our health inspection is today...

there's still a bunch of little things to do. I pray that work will let me leave an hour early so that I can buzz home and get them done. If not, I'll have to hope and that between Andy and I we can get it all done in the half an hour we'll have before she gets here to do the inspection. We both have to work today. I just want everything to be really clean. I pray that I'll be able to leave early and I pray that our inspection goes well. Thank you, Abba.

St. Bridget of Sweden

St. Bridget has really been coming to me lately. I guess I need to sit down and spend some time with her to find out what message she is trying to reveal to me.

Here is a little bit about her:

St. Bridget was the daughter of the royal Prince of Sweden, named Birger, and of Ingeburdis, a descendent of the Gothic kings. From these pious parents she inherited a great love for the Passion of Our Lord. Her father consecrated all Fridays to special acts of penance, and from her childhood St. Bridget loved to meditate upon the Passion of Christ. In obedience to her father, at the age of fourteen she married Ulfo, Prince of Nericia in Sweden, by whom she had eight children, the last of whom, Catherine, is now honored among the saints. Later, the holy couple bound themselves by a vow of chastity and made a pilgrimage to Compostela in Galicia. On their return to Sweden, Ulfo, with his wife's consent, entered a Cistercian monastery, where he died soon after, in the odor of sanctity. After his death St. Bridget renounced her rank of Princess and changed her habit. In 1344, she built the great monastery of Wastein, which became the motherhouse of a new Order, that of the Brigittines. She next undertook a pilgrimage to Rome and to Palestine. Having satisfied her devotion at the holy places sanctified by the life and Passion of Our Redeemer, she returned to Rome, where she lived a year longer. During this time, she was sorely afflicted by sickness, but endured it with heroic patience and resignation. Her son, Birger, and her daughter, Catherine, were with her in her last moments. Having giving them her final instructions, she received the Last Sacraments and died in 1373. She is the patroness of Sweden. Her feast day is July 23.

St. Bridget, please pray for me.

Our foster/adopt file was audited...

I'm going to cry. Here's all of what we need yet...

* We didn't do the MI and IL part all the way, I guess. We got the child abuse check clearances, but I never knew that we needed criminal history checks from each state as well...so I have to hunt down where to get those. I'm going to start with the state police depts and go from there. It's after hours now, so I'll have to do that after work tomorrow.

* I need to give them copies of new Texas driver's licenses. I can give them Andy's, but I don't have mine yet as I still need to go to the eye doctor before I can get mine.

* Copy of Deidra's social security card* Disaster plan form needs to be signed and completed

* I need to make some changes to our fire escape plan

* there's no record of me (Jess) taking water safety although I did

* AAPI Child Preference Questionnaire (I swear I turned this in)

* SAFE Questionnaires (we filled them out yesterday and I just have to turn them in)

* Property diagram (Sketch showing yard, fences, bodies of water, driveways, buildings, etc.)

* Weapon Storage Form

* Education Plan Form

* Child doctor/dentist form

* PRIDE homework

* Medical Consent training (online)

* Policies Packet

Wow...some of this stuff was never put in our packets....UGH

Abba, please help us get all this in as quickly as possible and guide us as to where we need to go to get our criminal history checks from MI and IL.

All that nervousness and for naught...

We passed our fire inspection with flying colors yesterday...and he was here all but maybe 5 minutes. He just needed to look at our appliances, central heat/air, checked the outlets for safety plugs, tested our smoke detectors and made sure we had the appropriate number, and checked our carbon monoxide detector and then asked to see our fire extinguisher and made sure that we had the appropriate one. Then, he signed off on his inspection and we were done.

Thank you, Abba, for letting things go smoothly...

And Jesus cured the Jaguaters...

We went to go get snowcones today from the little sno-biz place down the street. As we were leaving the parking lot, Andy noticed the car in front of us (a Jaguar)...

Andy: apparently, people that drive Jaguars like snowcones too...

Deidra: did you know that there's a story about Jesus curing Jaguaters (she prounounces Jaguar like Jagwater)?

Andy and I look at each other all confused.

Deidra: Jesus cured the Jaguaters of the disease.

And and I look at one another again.

Andy: you mean, like Jesus cured the lepers?

Deidra: yeah, he cured the Jaguaters of their disease.

Andy and I look at each other and try to stifle our giggles. Lepers (leopards) and Jaguaters (jaguars)...huh.

Deidra: yeah, he cured the leopards and the jaguaters...we learned about it in Sunday school. It's in the Bible you know.

And so we learn...Jesus cured the Jaguaters....

giggle

so cute....

Beautiful day, but a bit stressed!

We went with Deidra's class to the Dallas zoo today and it's such a beautiful day. The sun is out, the temp is just right, and it was a good time for snapping photos of the kids and the animals. We got to see a couple really cool animals up close (nothing but the glass between us)...I'll have to share pics later. Deidra was so excited to get to ride the bus to and from the zoo too, it was too funny. I will admit that I got a bit choked up to see her on the bus too. Andy kept saying "Jess, it's just a bus...it's no big deal." But, for me it was. Signs that she is growing up...but I love being able to drive her back and forth to school. She's always going to be my baby. I love being her Mom and it's bittersweet to see her doing big girl things. Anyway, the zoo was a lot of fun. We hung out with her best friend, Brittany, and her parents as well as another couple of boys from her class and one of their Dad's.

Now, we're home and here is where the stress comes in...we have our fire inspection in an hour. I think we're pretty much prepared and that it will go well, but I just worry. I can't help but feel that our lives and the way that we live is under a microscope right now. My Mom keeps telling me that we'll be ok and not to worry. I pray that she is right. Please help our fire inspection to go well and thank you for blessing us and for letting us spend the day with Deidra today.

Our referrals are finally all in...

Thank you, Abba. We have absolutely wonderful friends and family. I haven't seen all of our referrals, but the ones that I have been able to read have been beautiful. We are so blessed.

All of our referrals are in...my Mom came over last night for 3 hours and typed hers up on my computer so I could send it in. All it took was telling her that are file is being audited and I needed it before they could do our homestudy...she was the last one I was waiting for. Her response last night "It was definitely easier typing this up than it was trying to write it all out by hand." Oh Mom...I had offered to let her do it here before. She gave us a beautiful reference and it made tears come into my eyes when I read it. The house is finally clean, clean, clean...all I have left to do is sweeping and mopping the floors and that I'll do before I take Deidra to her first grade orientation tonight. YEAH!

This whole business trip thing...

Ok, let's start from the beginning...Andy and I set a plan in place that we were going to wrap these last few things up that we needed to do for our foster/adopt stuff so that we could finally be done with everything. I told Andy before that if we could get our inspections done by the end of the month/first week in May that all we had left to do was to get our homestudy done in 2-3 visits and that depending on the scheduling of that we'd hopefully be done by the 2nd or 3rd week in May and then we'd be ready to go. I changed my availability at work as well. Starting May 14 I'm only working weekends. If they won't honor that, my last day with Home Depot is May 11. Hopefully, I'll find out about that next week.

Anyway, Andy called me earlier this week on his way home from work saying that they had talked to him about an "optional" trip to New York to do inventory in their 2 offices. Now, they had been joking about it with him before for the last few months and I had always told him that if he went to NY, I wanted to go with him. We were only joking. I never thought it would actually happen and he didn't either. I asked him when it would be and he mentioned that it would be the 2nd or 3rd week of May. I immediately brought up our foster/adopt stuff as this is going to play a part in the timing of our home study if he goes then and I really don't want to delay it any longer. Not to mention, he is leaving on a weekend and I have to work weekends. My Mom and brother who normally would watch her already have a commitment on the weekends through the end of May, so I'm a little stuck on who I'd get for a sitter for her. I asked him if they could have someone else go (the idea was already put out there for someone else to go if Andy wasn't available...the trip is "optional" for Andy to go) this time and he'd go next time so we could stick with our current plan of getting the foster/adopt stuff done like we had planned. He got pretty bent out of shape with me. We had our first argument that we've had in a long time and both of us are pretty adamant about our reasonings. He's afraid that he's going to make a bad impression if he chooses not to go. I don't know what he's so afraid of...his whole dept knows what we're trying to do...they had even talked to me about it at the dinner we went to a few weeks ago and they are very supportive of what we're trying to do. They are a very family driven company as well, so I don't see it being a problem really if he doesn't go. He just gets so worked up about work stuff ever since he got laid off. He want to leave no room for error on his part which I do respect...if this weren't an optional thing for him yes, I'd be upset, but I'd totally understand him having to go. Maybe I'm being selfish, I don't know...it's just that I don't want to have to keep putting off these last few things and he knows that I just changed my availability so that we could start accepting placements as well. But, we can't do that until our homestudy is done and I guess right now I just see that as being more important than him going off to New York for a week for an optional trip that he really doesn't have to go on. Anyway, I'm tired of arguing with him over it and I give the situation to You, Abba. I know that you know what is best here.

More to do today...

I am going to try and set up the appt for our environmental health inspection again today...the lady never called me back yesterday. I also am typing up some things that I need to turn in with our paperwork and then I'll be heading over there this morning to turn it all in. I have some stuff to take pics of to put up on ebay and some bins to sort through to get my scrapbooking stuff back in order so I can continue doing Deidra's book and getting things in order to be able to start the foster kids. I can't believe that we're really almost ready for our homestudy. I can't wait to get our first placement. We spent a lot of time getting the house in order for our inspection yesterday and the house is really starting to take shape. We probably spent too much money yesterday, but we got some organizational stuff and I'm just glad that things are looking better around here.

I'm also drafting a letter to our landlord. Andy talked to them about taking out a 6-month lease so we could start the house building process now. He said that he would only do a 1-year lease as if we did it for 6 months that would put our lease ending in September and it's too hard to find renters then with the kids all back in school already. I'm listing the problems that we've had here in the letter and I'm just going to see if that makes any difference. I really don't want to stay here another year and we could definitely use the extra room in the new house. I'll send them the letter presenting our case andI'll pray about it and quit stressing over it and see what the Lord does with it I guess.

Abba, help us to stay on task and to be able to finish all of this soon. I also pray that we will be able to start the house building process sooner rather than later, but I know Your timing is perfect and it will all work out one way or another.

Lots of things accomplished yesterday...

I can't believe that we're almost ready for the home study. 2 inspections to go (our fire inspection is the 25th and I'm trying to set up our environmental health inspection for the same day...the lady hasn't called me back yet) and then we're there!


* We took all 8 kitties in to get vaccinated yesterday.

* We cleaned out some clutter and got the main rooms of the house prepped, babyproofed, and organized.

* We did some of our homework. It's all about attachment and bonding and is a good read for any parent or caregiver, I think. It made me think about some things though regarding my own childhood and losing my Mom and so forth. I may journal about it over at hoffmanfamilyjourney.blogspot.com ...I haven't decided. If anything though, it helps me to know that I'll be able to help the children by having gone through some of this myself.

* We got all of our paperwork together that we have collected and put it all in a manilla envelope so that I can turn it all in tomorrow. We still have a couple of things left to do for it all to be complete...but we're 95% done.

* We just collected our auto insurance, rental insurance, income tax return, and our verification of our last 3 months of income together for Andy to make copies of today so I can turn all that in on Monday as well.

* I need to type up our fire escape plan, disaster plan, alternative care plan, house rules, and our schedules of weekdays, weekends, and summer tonight/tomorrow morning so that I can turn all that in this afternoon as well.

It feels great to be almost done...I am so ready to accept our first placement(s)!

Head lice

Abba, please help Deidra and I to get rid of these things. Nothing over the counter seems to be working to get rid of them and Deidra has now passed them on to me. I feel disgusting and like everyone can see them. All Deidra and I have been doing is itching, itching, and itching and every time I think we've nipped them in the bud...they're back just a couple weeks later. The perscription the doctor wrote isn't covered under insurance and is $123 a bottle...just for some stinking shampoo. So, I just ordered some stuff online that someone said worked for them and I'm hoping that will do the trick...that alone was $54 so it better. I hate these little buggers.

Lots to do...

We had lots of stuff to do after I got out of work and picked Deidra up from school today. She has her graduation pictures for school on Thursday and since she's going to be in a white cap and gown, we had to find her a white dress to wear underneath. I thought that I was going to have to check hither and yonder to find her something, but we got lucky at our first stop at Target. They had a cute little white top and skirt that she'll look adorable in. I figure she can wear it at her graduation party too and she'll have it on at their graduation luau afterwards. I just can't believe that she's going to graduate kindergarten. I have already teared up when I got the notice for her cap and gown and graduation date. Where has my little girl gone? Anyway, we picked her out a pretty necklace too that she can wear for her pictures and she found a little bracelet that matched. She just got new white sandals too so she'll look very nice.

Now, we have to go work on her spelling words (I am so proud of her...she's gotten all 100s on her spelling tests so far) and her reading so that she can turn her stuff in and get new books. She's doing so well with reading to me and sounding out new words. We definitely have a smart little girl. I couldn't be more proud of her.

After that, is more house cleaning to get ready for our fire and environmental inspections next week for our foster/adoption stuff.

Oh man!

Abba, please guide us through this with the planning of all of this. Andy's work wants to send him to New York in May. He's known for the last few months that there's been a possibility that they'd send him out there. I have always told him that if he went out there that I wanted to go with him. Anyway, I guess they want to send him out there during the week, which pretty much means that I couldn't go.

However, this is one of the worst possible times that he'd have to go out there...we are trying to finish up the stuff we need to do for our foster/adopt stuff and our home study will more than likely be in the first week or two of May, Deidra graduates after that (May 16) and we'll more than likely be getting our first foster/adopt placement(s) in May. I just wish now that he didn't have to go. Help guide us through all of this so that he won't have to miss anything important. Part of me wishes that he could go the last week in May and since D is out of school then, we could go with him. :-)

My silly daughter...

Friday was fundraiser day at Chick-fil-A for her school. They had the Chick-fil-A mascot, the cow, outside when the parents came to pick the kids up at school and I told her to wave to the cow. She says to me "Mom...that's just a guy in a suit." And I so thought that she was still supposed to be impressed by this stuff at the age of 6. She's growing up too fast....I did have to giggle at her though.

Thank You

Thank you, Abba, for watching over us and keeping us safe from the storms. Thank you for letting Deidra's lab tests come back normal so we don't have to worry about her. Thank you for the blessings that you have given our family.

Texas Storms

Wow, is it a stormy night right now. There are tornado warnings in each county surrounding us as well as numerous others. There are some tornadic storms heading our way too that are 2 counties over right now. I'm so glad that Andy isn't in Dallas right now and is home with me. Well, the lightening and rain just hit, so I guess I'd better go. Keep us safe, Abba, along with our friends and family in the area as well.

My brother, Zach

Some of my readers have been asking how Zach has been doing. My Mom tracked his cell phone number down and called him on Good Friday to see if he had found work yet and how he was doing. This was literally the conversation...

Mom: Hi Zach. Everything going alright.

Zach: Yup.

Mom: How's the job search going? Have you found anything yet?

Zach: No, I haven't found a job yet...is there anything else because my minutes are going to run out?

Mom: No, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright. You call us sometime.

Zach: Ok, bye.

Keep praying for him if you will. Pray for good friends for him that will be good influences for him, that he's able to find a good job that will pay his rent and utilities, and that he will come to know Jesus above all and that he'll get his life turned around back on the right track.

Deidra's urinalysis...

The doctor wanted a repeat test done today to see what her kidneys were doing. She kept telling me that she didn't have to go when she got up this morning, but I finally was able to get some out of her. I was starting to worry as this is my only day off this week and the only time I had time to run a specimen in there. I turned the water faucet on for her and she was finally able to go a little bit. Now, I just pray that her test turns out ok so that she won't have to have any further testing.

The Significants of Easter?

Easter is one of my favorite holidays...the gift of God giving his Son to us and the forgiveness of our sins and the fresh start that we have been given is just amazing to me and such a beautiful gift. Yet, Easter is a time of reflection for me as it's the anniversary of 2 deaths of very important people in my life. My Mom died on April 15 in 1985 and that was either right before or right after Easter...I want to say it was right after Easter though as I do remember getting an Easter basket. I don't honestly remember though seeing how I was only 8 at the time. Anyway, I know it was awfully close to Easter. Then, we lost my Grandma 5 years ago right at Easter time on March 20, 2002. Easter came early that year.

I offered up my Holy Communion today at mass for them both and I got very choked up when I came back to my seat and fought back tears. They were tears of joy though...it was like I could feel the love in my heart from the Holy Spirit and all I could do was cry. When I came home from mass, I felt the need to check my e-mail and there I found the news from our friends of the family that the 2 boys had passed away on Good Friday. We were going over to my Mom's for Easter dinner so I printed the e-mail for her since I thought she'd want to know as well. On the way to my Mom's all I could think about was "what is the significants of Easter time that all these deaths seem to occur?" I know it such a holy time of the year, but that doesn't seem to make it any easier when you think about it.

I'd like to lift up V and her family in prayer as they deal with the one year anniversary of her sister's death and I'd like to lift up the Konetzka family as they deal with the death of the 2 boys during this time and I'd like to remember my own family as we remember the deaths of my Mom and my Grandma at Easter as well. And above all, I want to say thank you for the beautiful gift of the cross and sacrificing your own Son to save us and give us the gift of eternal life so that we do have a place that we can spend all of eternity with You and have the opportunity to see our loved ones again.

An Easter Prayer Request

I came home from Easter mass to receive this e-mail from family friends of ours. The boys are my friend's Niki's eldest boys. Niki and I have been friends since first grade. I feel so badly for her...she lost a little girl, Gianna, a couple years back due to SIDS and now this.... Her parents, Mike and Dar, had custody of the boys and so this is especially hard on them as well. If you could keep the family in your prayers at this time I would greatly appreciate it. And please hug your kids a little tighter tonight.

This is the e-mail that I received...

My beloved friends in Christ:

Darleen and I and all of The Konetzka family request your prayers at
this moment of sorrow for the souls of our grandsons, Dakotah and
Austin, who went to be with Our Lord yesterday on Good Friday after
dying in an automobile accident?on their way to Mass. We also ask
for your prayers for the family members. PLEASE pray for the boys
as they were true soldiers of Our Lord and Savior.

We thank each of you for your continued prayers to help their Souls
unto everlasting life.

May God Bless Our Boys


Mike and Dar

My brave little girl...

We got to the doctor's office and they wanted her to give a urine specimen to rule out a bladder infection. She couldn't go. They poked her finger to test her sugars and she said "ow, ow, ow" afterwards, but she did really well. She offered her finger and sat very still while the nurse did it...why she couldn't do that for me is beyond me...oh...I'm the mommy that's why. Anyway, her blood sugars came back normal. The doctor brought her some cold water to drink and the nurse came in and did her TB test...she did cry a little bit while that one happened, but she sat really still and watched them do the whole thing. She was so brave...I was very impressed with how she did. The doctor wanted her to do a urinalysis before we left and finally she said that she thought she could go. She produced the tiniest little amount of urine and we gave it to the doctor. He came back in and said she didn't have a bladder infection. I didn't think that she did, but I was suprised when he added that he was worrying about her kidney function and he wants me to get another urine specimen from her on Monday morning and bring it in. Depending on how that one goes, she may be going to the hospital for some more tests. But, he's thinking that this thing with her kidneys is the reason that she's been thirsty so much. Wasn't prepared for that one. So, I'm a little worried, but trying not to worry until we know more.

Deidra goes in today...

for her diabetes check and TB test. She's so scared. And stupid me never realized when I took the appt that her appt wasn't until 11:30. Poor kid hasn't eaten since about 4 pm yesterday. She fell asleep at 6 pm last night and stayed asleep until 8 this morning. All I can give her is water until we get her labwork done. I feel so bad. Help her get through this, Abba. Help me get through this too. I always hate seeing her worried or hurt.

I am worried about her having the diabetes though as she is showing quite a few symptoms...she's always thirsty and she wants everything cold...she's always hungry especially for sweets and salty stuff....she's always tired...she can get very moody and irritable...she's always complaining that her head and tummy hurt....and she's in the bathroom all the time going to the bathroom and has even had a few accidents lately which is something that she doesn't do at all unless there's something wrong. Andy and I already talked about the "what ifs" and if she does have it, I will be quitting work so that I can monitor her really well.

Yahoo!

We've been wanting to get our paperwork and stuff all wrapped up over the next couple of weeks so that we can be done with all the stuff on our end that we need and just wait on the state to issue our license.

We finally got our central registry clearance from IL today. YEAH!

Our inspections are hopefully going to be next week and then we're ready for our homestudy. We're still waiting of all people on my Mom to send in her reference on us and we bringing the cats in to the vet next Saturday. I also have to drop off the forms for the doctor and dentist that we're going to use for the kids and have them sign off on that and then once our homestudy visits are done...it's just waiting on our license. Wow!

A Great Weekend and a Raise

My Mom and brother Jimmie, came over after we were out of work on Friday night. We weren't expecting them home until Saturday, but they came home early. It was a little sad to not see Zach with them (he found a studio apt in Austin). Anyway, we talked a lot and finished watching E.T. with Deidra. Deidra wanted to go home with Grandma and spend the night, but Grandma needed some sleep and since she was going to watch her on Saturday night so we could go out to dinner with Andy's department at work she said she could spend the night then.

Saturday, we spent 2 hours at the bank trying to reopen our savings account...there were literally about 15 people in line and only one customer service banker. It was a tad ridiculous and I was losing patience very quickly but it was something that had to be done so we waited. We ran around to a few garage sales after that and found a few good finds for ebay. We talked a bit more about me quitting my job and I'm going to pray, pray, pray about it. All that's holding me back is insurance...I need to buy an individual plan and a lot of them won't take me because of my history of diabetes. I'm going to give it until Deidra is done with kindergarten in May though to make my final decision, but once we get our first foster placement with us, I'll be going down to weekends only anyway. We came home to get dressed up and then we brought Deidra to my Mom's. We went to Buca de Beppo http://www.bucadibeppo.com/ for dinner with his department from work. His boss took the department out along with their significant others to say thanks for helping with the company move. It was so much fun. We got to eat in the Pope Room and it was just beautiful. There was a beautiful angel mural on the ceiling dome and the acoustics were wonderful. There were about 12 of us there and they had a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table so we could just push the food around to whoever wanted it. All the meals there are served family-style. We ordered so much food and drinks and wine and the desserts were fantastic as well. Anyway...back to the room acoustics...you could totally hear the conversations of everyone and you didn't have to yell. It was great! After that we went over to an Irish Pub...it was nonsmoking and I loved that. We sat outside and drank and talked for a few hours and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and the company. I will say this again...he really has been blessed with a wonderful job and some great people to work with. This was only my 2nd time around these people and when it came time to say good-bye I was given many a hug by them and their significant others. It's nice to know that he's in good hands at work. One thing though that we got to talking about was our foster/adopt plans (they were all asking me about it) and our plans to build a house this year. Andy just mentioned that we were still waiting on the timing of putting the money down on the lot as we want to make sure that we are truly prepared. We want the house to be a blessing and not a burden. Andy's boss and another guy that he interviewed exchanged a look and Andy said it made him nervous. I told him that I didn't know what he was worrying about when he had already gotten his review and they were very happy with him. He just didn't know what it meant that's all...I still think he gets nervous from time to time after being laid off back in Chicago. I told him that I think this job here is going to turn out to be the best job that he's ever had and he agreed.

I also have to say another thank you though, Abba, for your blessings upon our family. Andy found out what that look was for between his boss and the other guy he interviewed with...he was given a very generous raise today and it was more than what we ever could have hoped for. You're definitely watching over us and we are so blessed. Thank you so much, Abba.

I've got a green thumb today....

I normally kill plants and so forth, but seeing all the pretty plants coming in to the garden center at work, I just had to plant some. Andy's company just took his department out for dinner over the weekend (and us significant others) and they gave us a Home Depot gift card as well as an African Daisy plant. That was for helping the company move and to us significant others it was for putting up with them not being home much that week. It was a great dinner at Buca de Bepo (very fancy italian restaurant here in Dallas). Anyway, garden had some pots and watering cans and such today for $1 and I figured that I was going to get some pots and I wanted some tomato plants. The tomato plants that I wanted were sold out by the time I got out of work, so I just got about 12 little baby tomato plants and some pots to plant them in. Top soil was on sale for $0.98 a bag so I got some of that. Then, I got some more african daisies, some yellow mini daisies, and some other little filler flowers and I put together my own little garden bouquet in a pot and it looks quite nice if I do say so myself. Now, hopefully I won't kill them. Then, I ran out of pots for all my little baby tomater plants and so Deidra and I went back to Home Depot to get some more. Ever since our trip to AZ to the botanical gardens when we saw the herb garden, Deidra has wanted to plant some herb plants. We didn't have much of a selection left of the little plants, so I got some little pots for each herb and we got some seed packets and planted some thyme, oregano, basil, chives, dill, and some catnip for the cats. I spent about 3 hours planting eveyrthing and had so much fun. The cactus that we put out on our front porch are looking very nice too and we've already gotten a few comments on those. I'll have to take some pics later of our cactus and the planter that I made today. I'll share pics of our herb garden once some start sprouting. :-) Now to get some house cleaning done...Andy said he was going to make me dinner tonight...Chicken, broccoli, and mushroom casserole...some Alton Brown recipe he saw on Good Eats. :-) I've got the greatest hubby ever. :-)