Monday, July 28, 2008

Recommended....."Hearing"

This is what I've been listening to:





Every morning on the way to work, I pray the rosary with the help of this cd.

I began praying the rosary on a daily basis for Baby Cate Cantrell (see June posts/links to her story). I've continued this devotion and I believe my life is changing in many beautiful ways. I hope that Baby Cate's family is receiving the graces I pray for them through this devotion.




Father Richards does a great job explaining why we NEED confession in this cd. Listening to his words made me eager to go to confession.......


REALLY IT DID!!!








WOW! This one is a great introduction to The Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II.





The best part about these CD's is that they are free!!!!

Go get you some here....http://www.catholicity.com/cds/

May God bless you on your journey back to Him

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Blog Buzz: Attachment

How did attachment go during your first year? Describe what you did to prepare for attachment as well as the joys and challenges of attachment during your first year home. (if you aren’t home with your little one yet, describe some of your thought processes or plans!)

Our attachment went very smoothly. We read the book Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections by Jean MacLeod. It was a very good resource, but to be honest, we primarily relied on our instincts. I think the most important thing we did while waiting for Jacob was prayer.

We started immediately. As I wrote earlier, just a few minutes after we met Jacob, his daddy fed him. It was beautiful, Jacob gazed into his daddy's eyes while he took his bottle (he was 9 months old). We spent most of the next 3 days in our hotel room playing, kissing and doing lots of touching. For the first day Jacob was very sad, but he allowed us to interact with him.

When we returned home, we stayed home with him seperately. I was home with him for the first two weeks while Daddy went back to work. On the third week I went back to work and he was with Daddy for a week. We alternated this way for the next six weeks. We didn't have the experience of Jacob preferring one of us over the other.

Here's where our story, gets a little complicated. We got home with Jacob in September and about a week later we got the official orders. Daddy was being deployed to Iraq. He left in early January. I was so very worried about this. Was Jacob's connection to his Daddy solid enough to withstand a physical seperation for almost a year?

When he initially left home he went to California for a month's training. Jacob and I traveled to California to spend about 5 days with Daddy just before he left for Iraq. No problem then, Jacob was thrilled to see his Daddy. In fact, during this time, he preferred being with Daddy over me. Well, thank God for Skype. Daddy was stationed on a base in Iraq, so he was able to call us over the computer every Saturday morning. Jacob was able to "see" his Daddy and talk to him (If you scroll down you can see a picutre of Jacob talking to his Daddy in my post "Last Summer, This Summer").


When Daddy returned in September (the same day we got home with Jacob a year before), Jacob went right to him! For the next two weeks, Jacob spent his days with Daddy. No problems, he and Daddy picked up right where they left off.





Jacob and Daddy his first morning home from Iraq! An AWESOME day!!


Sunday, July 20, 2008

Last Summer...This Summer



Last summer...playin outside

This summer...playin outside..I'm much taller now!


Last summer...get me outta here!

This summer...puppy and I sleep in a big boy bed

Last summer, this was the only way I could touch my daddy..he was in Iraq

This summer...Daddy's home YEAH!!!


Last summer I had a funky cold :(

This summer...another cold!

Last summer I cruised around in my big ride

This summer...I love my Diego ball

Last summer I was into dressing formal


This summer....casual is the way to go!!
I've learned so much since last summer
He he he!
Jacob

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Blog Buzz $$$

“How do I do this, moneywise? I want to adopt, but it seems so overwhelming. We don’t really have $20,000 in the bank, ya know!” Please blog about your experience, ideas, insight, fundraisers and other ideas that worked for you while raising your adoption money.

We prayed and prayed and prayed for a child. We had NO EARTHLY IDEA how we would finance an adoption. It seemed hopeless. I had a great job, but Charles was in college full time and worked part time. We still hoped and prayed that somehow we could do this. I applied for a few grants. but we were not chosen.

About this same time I got word that I would be laid off. Certainly scary, but a blessing too. I was offered a transfer, but if I didn't take it, I would receive a very generous severence package. The trick would be to find another job quickly so we wouldn't have to use any of this $$ to live on. By this time Charles was working full time and God blessed me with another job within a month. This was enough money for us to get started!

We had a couple of fundraisers that were very profitable. The first fundraiser was a football pool for the superbowl. We charged $10 per square for 100 squares. We paid out $125 per quarter. Therefore, we made $500 per pool. A couple of friends and relatives in other towns did pools for us too. These were fun and just about effortless. One of the winners even donated their winnings.

We also did t-shirt sales for Mardi Gras. A local supplier sold us the t-shirts at their cost. We sold almost 300 shirts and made lots of $$. People were so generous and wanted to help us. We also received quite a bit of money in the mail. Yep, people just sent us money to support our adoption. In fact, my employer, paid for our airplane tickets!

We made up the difference with a line of credit loan which we paid off with our Adoption Tax Credit from the IRS.

The BIG QUESTION IS, how do we finance the next one???? ; )


Saturday, July 12, 2008

Ever feel like your being watched???


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Conversation with Jacob


Me: What's mamma's name?

Jake: Well, Mammmmma


Me: What's your name?

Jake: Daycob


Me: What's daddy's name?

Jake: BOO BOO (loud as if I should know that!)


I've (and many others now) called my husband Boo Boo since we were dating!



Monday, July 7, 2008

More pictures from this weekend









Saturday, July 5, 2008

Hey, my camera has a fireworks setting!



































Friday, July 4, 2008

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

I RODE A PONY...CHECK IT OUT

I SAW SOME FIREWORKS TOO!