Take it or Leave it...

He is ours

2007-06-03T21:32:00.001-05:00

Well, we are finally officially parents. We went to the court house with a huge group, raised our right hand, signed some papers, Charlie got a teddy bear and it was over like that. It happened on Friday, May 11, 2007 the Friday before Mother's Day. Fitting, don't you think? That night we went to an Astro's game. Then Saturday we went to the Art Car Parade. It was so nice of the city to schedule that on our special weekend. On Mother's Day we had baby dedication at our church. It was very nice. It was a great weekend for all. Finally after all of our struggles and dissapointments we have a perfectly wonderful son. We could not be more blessed. I will post pics later. I have some older pics on my Myspace. You can get there at http://www.myspace.com/jackie1199

Simple Requests- Not enough anymore

2007-01-21T04:15:00.000-06:00

Have any of you noticed how simply requesting that someone do something is not enough to get them to do it. Now people, and high school students(non-people ha ha) need incentives and consequences to follow the rules. Case in point: Our students are not allowed to wear hoods in the building. They know this, but everyday we say, "Remove your hood, please." about a million times. They look at us like we are stupid and keep the hood on. Of course we are between classes and can't chase them and give them a consequence, so they don't do what we say. Or, even better, they do it when we ask. Then, when they turn the corner the hood goes back on.
The problem is not limited to the students either. The principal has started "cracking down" on teacher dress code. I know you would think they wouldn't need to be told. Anyway, a specific request was made that on Friday which is spirit day AKA jeans day teachers need to be sure and wear a school shirt, or shirt celebrating upcoming holidays. I admit I had been wearing any shirt I wanted before the "crack down". I didn't think the high school was as strict as the intermediate I worked at before. Now, because I respect authority, I am complying with the rule. As you would expect there are a few people who are not. I was shocked to see professional people not following the rules. I thought to myself, maybe they just forgot this first time. Then, two more Fridays passed with the same result. The principal says she is not going to police us like children, so some people take that to mean I can do what I want.
I know some of you are asking, do you always follow every rule? The answer is no, but I do follow most of them. I speed, I may take 21 items to the 20 item express lane, but usually I will do hat I am suppose to do. I may sound like a hypocrite, but I think many of you can agree with me. I just wish people would do the right thing, not just the right thing for them. Sometimes there is a difference.

Turkey Day Fun

2006-12-10T14:17:00.000-06:00

It was a very happy Thanksgiving! We visited my home. Charlie met grandparents, great-grandmother, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins... We had a great time showing our sweetie off to everyone. Isn't he hansome?!

Life is wonderful!

2006-11-15T12:59:00.000-06:00

We are really enjoying our boy! Charlie is so great. He has a lot of prsonality even at 3 mo. (3 mo. on 11/18) He loves to have his fingers kissed. He also loves his changing table for some reason. We call it the happy zone because nearly every time we lay him on it, he starts to smile and laugh. I love being a Mom, and Daddy is looking good on D. Now, we just have to pay the adoption fees for this little guy. Keep us in your prayers.

Inroducing..... Charlie

2006-10-31T17:56:00.000-06:00

Here is our bundle of joy that we have waited so long to love.

Down, way down

2006-10-27T08:01:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go again. The birthmother has decided she needs more time. I can understand her feelings. She has had this baby for two months. It has to be hard, but I keep telling myself that she considered adoption, so there must be no way for her to keep him. Otherwise, she would have never considered adoption. I may be lying to myself, but it gets me through the day. Anyway, if she gives up the baby we will get him. The only question now is will she do the right thing? I don't know how I will handle it if we don't get him. A friend was saying this is like a miscarriage. Although I didn't feel him inside me, I was, am already in love with him. The baby things we have became his things. I bought him a baby's first Halloween outfit. God, I hope he gets to wear it. I will continue to post. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

SHE PICKED US!!!!!

2006-10-25T19:59:00.000-05:00

We are going to be the parents of a two month old baby boy. The birthmom picked our scrapbook. We are so excited we can hardly wait. We will meet him tomorrow (Thur) and then hopefully bring him home on Friday if the paperwork is done. At the latest we will have him on Monday. I can't believe we have waited so long and suddenly it is here. Wow!! Now the real need for prayer starts. I would also like to ask all of you to pray for the birthmom. She is making the most difficult decision in her life. I can't imagine being in her shoes.
We are beginning the most important phase of our married lives. Nothing will ever be the same. I am the luckiest person in the world to have been blessed with a great husband and now a baby. What a ride!

Emotional Rollercoaster!

2006-10-21T08:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I am going crazy with all the ups and downs of this insane process. We have not heard anything from the agency about the baby girl born on Sept. 11th except that it will be a minimum of 30 days before they narrow down the family pool. What the hell is taking so long??!! I was so excited, but now we wait... up... down... up... down. I am a basket case!

Currently we are on an "up" because a birthmother has called the agency and she will be looking at a few families, including us, to give her two month old baby boy to. The boy was born on Aug. 18, he is half Caucasian half African American, and he is in good health, according to mom. Apparently she considered adoption at birth, but decided to take him home. It has proved to be too much for her with two other kids at home already and no father to help. She will view our scrapbook on Tuesday (10/24). I assume she will only be looking at 5 or 6 families because the case worker will be visiting the woman at home and carrying scrapbooks to her. Who knows, though. She may load up a dolly and cart 40 books over. I hope we do not have to wait much longer. I am liable to make myself sick.
I will keep you posted on the next "up" or "down". Keep us in your prayers.

We've Been Submitted

2006-09-22T18:34:00.000-05:00

We were submitted last week on a baby girl born Sept. 11th 2006. That means we are in a pool with several other families where the committee will look at all the homestudies and pick three or four "finalists". Please keep us in your prayers. I am trying to contain my excitement because being our first time submitted, it is a long shot. The baby girl seems to be healthy from what we were able to read about her. She is 1/2 hispanic, 1/2 white, so odds are she will be beautiful! I hope we get her. We should know more by the mid to end of October.

We Are Approved

2006-09-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

We were approved on Tue, August 8th. I know, I must not be too excited since I have waited so long to post. I am excited-very excited! I just have been so busy getting into school. As some of you know I have started teaching high school this year. I am loving it! I have the same feeling as when I decided to teach special ed. I have found my niche. High school is more challenging. I can intimidate a 5th grader into submission, but I have to work to get these 10-12th graders to do what I want. It is great! I am very happy! The only thing that would make me happier is a baby to become available. Please pray for us as we once again wait. At least this is the final waiting stage. I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!

Homestudy Part Two

2006-06-29T07:47:00.000-05:00

We made it through our second and hopefully final homestudy visit. I hate the thought of having a homestudy part 27 post. I think part two is enugh for me. Hopefully my next post will be saying we are approved. Anyway, we did what she said at her last visit. She checked those things off, and gave us some more paperwork to take care of. I thought special ed had a lot of paperwork OMG! But, I am not complaining. As I told the homstudy worker, I would sign papers all day if it means I get to be a mom.

Homestudy Part 1

2006-06-25T18:45:00.000-05:00

Well, we had our first visit from the homestudy caseworker on Saturday. It was not exactly how I expected it. I was crazy cleaning and making sure everything was set up, and we just did a quick walk through and she just checked, clean, no hanging wires or highly unsafe areas. We only have a couple things to do. We have to put smoke detectors in each bedroom, and write out a plan for evacuation and fire drill. I also expected her to pepper us with uncomfortable questions, but she was having more of a conversation about our childhood rather than a typical interview. She will be back on Wed. to confirm the things we had to do and ask a few more questions after she reviews what we talked about. I am so excited. Things may be moving slowly, but they are moving. Keep us in your prayers.

The Waiting Game

2006-06-06T09:47:00.000-05:00

Well, we are still waiting to get a call from our homestudy worker. We have a bunch of baby stuff, now they just need to come look at it and interview us. I don't like the waiting game. I have never been a good "waiter". Continue to pray for us.

A work in progress

2006-05-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the baby bed is set up, and our church donated a nice rocker to us. The room is really coming together. My mother in law and her husband got us the baby bed and after chasing down missing parts, we finally got it together. My excitement is growing! I can't wait. The rocker was a real surprise. Our church is in the process of moving buildings and wanted to get rid of a rocker, so on our way out of church our pastor's wife said, "Do you want that rocker?" I thought she was kidding, but she wasn't. I can't believe how great all of this is. Here are some pics of assembling the bed and rocking the current baby of the house.

A New Experience

2006-05-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

I had a new experience this week. My team at work threw me a baby shower. I, of course, have never had a baby shower before. It was very nice. I am waiting on pics to be emailed to me. I will share when I get them. There was a really cute cake, and I got several nice things-- mostly toys that my husband will enjoy as much as the baby. One thing I thought was funny is the school nurse and aide got me an ear thermometer. Pretty fitting from them. Anyway, we are working on getting the room and our house ready for our homestudy visit. It seems to be taking forever! We put together our first piece of furniture last night, a changing table. I am still so excited. You would think I was really pregnant because I am so emotional. I talk to someone about a baby, and tears come to my eyes. What a mess I am! Here are some pics of the handy dandy papa at work.

Mr. Kitty had to investigate also.

Getting Closer

2006-05-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Well, we are about to have our last week of classes which have been very eye opening. The next step will be for someone to come out to our house and look at it. They will interview us together and seperately, asking all kinds of personal questions. Can't wait for that! ha! This step is called the Homestudy.

Anyway, speaking of our home, we have moved some things around. Originally we had decided to close in part of our garage to accommodate an office, but we have decided to rearrange instead. We now have our computer desk and a couple musical instruments in the living room. D always drags the guitar in the living room to play anyway, so why not keep it there? The other music stuff is now going in our bedroom along with my scrappbooking supplies. We are moving our bookshelves to the garage with an extra table we had. Now with our extra fridg out there, we can have a great poker night. All we need is the neon sign saying O'R*****'s Pub. (didn't want to put the whole last name, but those of you who know us can fill in the blanks)

We will be going to register today. Probably Target and Babies R us. I am so excited! I don't exactly know what all to register for, but it will be fun deciding! In my estimation, providing all goes well with our homestudy, we should have a child by mid June.

Sleepless Night

2006-04-10T18:40:00.000-05:00

I am the kind of person that can't sleep when I am excited. I am very excited about getting the adoption and foster program started. Last night I only got two or three hours sleep because I was so excited. I ran different scenarios through my brain over and over. None of this does any good though. Things never happen like I imagine them, so actually my sleepless night is setting me up for disappointment. I plan on taking sleeping meds for the next few nights until we get settled into our classes which start DAY AFTER TOMORROW! I really cannot wait to be a mommy, even if I only get to keep them for a short time. Maybe these sleepless night will prepare me for mommyhood.

We have decided to go with nursery rhymes for our theme. The cow jumping, the dish and spoon, humpty... The possibilities are endless.
Guess what, I'm so excited! Have I mentioned that?

More steps near

2006-03-25T09:31:00.000-06:00

Well, our representative from Depelchin called us with the schedule of classes we have to take to foster/adopt. We begin on April 12th and finish on May 11th. During that time we will have our homestudy done where they come look at our house and ask us lots of personal questions. I am so excited! I hope things go smoothly for us.

We are also closing in part of our garage to make an office. With only two bedrooms we need more space for the child. We should get that going in about two or three weeks. When we are done I will start decorating the child's bedroom. I need a generic theme for the room. When I was a child, I loved Winnie the Pooh. Maybe I will go with that-- but not that classic Pooh stuff. I like the original fat belly red shirt Pooh. I welcome any suggestions for a generic birth to six years theme for the room.

Step 1 Complete

2006-03-18T22:34:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. I am still alive, just so busy lately. I wanted to share with you all that we completed our application for foster/adoption. That may not seem like much, but when you are floundering around with so many options and agencies to choose from it is a big step. I am very excited. Hopefully they will be contacting us soon to begin our classes. I understand the need for all of these tedious steps, but I am ready to have a child. I mean, just about any couple can produce a child with out a lick of training or sense, but people like us who will be wonderful parents have to jump through hoops and climb mountains to have a kid. No fair!! Anyway, keep us in your prayers and thoughts.

Kicking my Ass!

2006-02-20T20:36:00.000-06:00

O.K. It has only been what a month, and the diet is kicking my ass! I have gone back to bad habits since I allowed myself to splurge a little for Valentine's day. D and I both have hit a plateau, and we have been justifying our eating by saying we need to eat to jump start our weight loss again. Even as I type it, it doesn't make sense to me. Whatever! As I told a friend, I am back on the wagon again. Hopefully, I will be able to report good news in the weight loss department soon.

In other matters, I have good news about my job. I am a teacher if you didn't know that already, and I teach special ed. More specifically I teach a program called "Language!" Well, last week, after observing and being observed by a couple people I have become what is called a model teacher. All that really means is that teachers learning to teach the program can come observe me to see it being taught properly. It is not a huge deal, but it looks good for me.

Also, we have decided on the agency we are going to use for our adoption. We will be pursuing fostering and adopting at the same time, and the one that comes through first is the one we will go with. We are beginning the application process, so please keep us in your prayers.

Challenge

2006-01-22T18:02:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, sorry I have been too busy to get on the computer lately. We are continuing to trudge through the diet. We are still on track with our two lbs. per week although it is slowing some. With our busy lifestyle it is easy to fall away. As D always says, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Eating out is easy. We do get a salad or grilled entree, but there are those hidden calories that catch up with us at weigh in time. I stumbled across a guy on the blog who is recording his progress with Weight Watchers. I am trying to encourage him on his weight loss quest and by doing so encourage myself. Today I challenged him to get more exercise next week, and I challenged myself as well to get 2.5 hrs instead of maybe 2 hrs a week. I know I can do it!

Some progress

2006-01-14T10:48:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, we are making some progress on our diet. In two weeks Drad has lost 5 lbs, and I have lost 4. I am pretty proud of us! We have stuck to our diet and have exercised more that we usually do. I have only missed one day of the quick workout with my coworkers due to a meeting that went waayyy long. We seem to be meeting our goals so far. We will continue to update you on our progress.

Service Sucks!

2006-01-09T11:49:00.000-06:00

I have one question. What has happened to the service industry? When I was in school, I worked as a cashier and a waitress. I understand the stuff they deal with. It all started for me when I moved to N.O., LA. It was about 1996 and all the Wal-mart cashiers were horrible. They don't say hello, they ring up your items and look at you like, I'm waiting, and then forget thanks for shopping. I atributed it to "Big City" ways since I am from a small town. I am finding, though, that no matter where I travel service is hardly ever good. I now live in a growing community outside a large city (not N.O.)and service sucks! I almost don't enjoy eating out anymore. The other day we went to chili's, and waited forever while waiters went to tables all around us. Finally, we asked the hostess who our waiter was and they got us somebody who was actually pretty good. Then Sunday we went back- yes, a glutton for punishment. The service was bad. The dishes were nasty. Something was stuck to my glass, and a worm looking thing was floating inside. When I got a new glass, junk was caked on the outside of it as well. The spoon had a nasty film on it, blah, blah blah... We fianlly ate and waited for our check, and waited, and waited... We eneded up leaving some cash for the bill and splitting. By the way, some people were sat in the table we had waited in the other day. Yep, they sat there for about 10 minutes before being waited on. People, can we please give a damn about our job!

Wishful Blogging

2006-01-04T18:01:00.000-06:00

Look how great I am doing on my diet! In just three days I got skinny and turned blonde! O.K., so it's really a cartoon. Oh... you already knew that. Ha ha funny me. Yes, I laugh at my own jokes. Well, at least somebody's laughing.

Anyway, I am doing pretty well sticking to the new way of eating. Hopefully, I will continue to eat well. Today, a group of teachers I work with and I began an exercise program. We have a DVD with 4 different workouts. Today we did kickboxing. It was pretty cool, punching and kicking the air. I got to bob and weave too! Lookout Rocky Balboa! I will continue to update all of you because I know you are on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about my success.

I need a way to finish my blog. I've seen other blogs with great finishing lines. I think I'll try. Here goes...

Merry Wednesday to all and to all a good night! ... not bad, huh?

Resolutions

2006-01-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

O.K. Here we go with another resolution. D and I are starting our diet on Mon. We have a goal of two lbs. per week. We are going to put you guys out there in blogtopia in charge of keeping us accountable. If anyone wants us to keep you accountable, just say so. If we work together, we can reach our goals. Now, excuse me while I go pig out in these last few hours for me to eat. Ha ha! Here are the before pictures. We will update you every weekend, good or bad.

Made it through

2005-12-29T14:45:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it through Christmas. We had two family gatherings with plenty of food and gifts for everyone. Some years it seems like the get togethers are a disaster, but this year I can say we had a wonderful time at both events. Christmas day we went to DRad's sister's house, and the food and company was great. Drad's mom and step dad, Sister, her husband and their four kids, and a family that is their friend were there. We ate, opened great gifts, and watched the traditional "Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas." The day after Christmas my mother, step dad and sister came to visit from out of town. Then that evening DRad's family came over. We ate, opened great gifts, and DRad, his mom, and my step dad played a guitar trio sing along. We sang many Christmas songs and it was a lot of fun. To end the night DRad got out his new Karaoke machine "Santa" brought him, and we continued to sing Christmas and other tunes. It was a great party-maybe the best family party we have had at our house so far. Now everyone is gone. My family left today, and we are in an empty house again. DRad is snoring on the couch as I write. Those of you who know DRad, know I am wearing earplugs-jk. And, as you can see, Mr. is asleep as well. I hope everyone who reads this had a wonderful time with friends and family.

Oh, by the way, for the first time in 7 years DRad and I made it to Christmas day with gifts to each other unopened. --- Ok, so it was just after midnight on Christmas day, but that counts!

Season's Greetings

2005-12-14T20:23:00.000-06:00

Hi bloggers. The end of a year has come again. We have decorated a little and are trying to get ourselves in the Christmas spirit. Mr. Kitty is in the eat the fake berries off the Christmas tree spirit. Almost daily we come home to find more berries on the floor. Since this is the first year I have had a blog, I am strapped for things to ramble about. I just want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you and yours celebrate during this season. I hope you all can look around and see how you are blessed. I know I am among the most blessed with a wonderful family, great friends, too many material things, and way too much food. Since this is a season of sharing, share your love and blessings with those around you.

Idioms

2005-11-29T19:56:00.000-06:00

Hi blog world, I finally have something to say again. If you read my other posts ( a whopping two), you should know I teach reading. We use a program called Language. Anyway, in this program they emphasize that the student learn the meaning of all these idioms like "at the drop of a hat" or "your in hot water". Seems stupid to me, but I teach it. Today our idiom was "on his last leg". Well, I was teaching along trying to get these special ed students to get the meaning of this stupid saying when one of my students said, "Mrs. R*****, aren't we making fun of people who have lost their leg." While trying to keep a straight face, I assured the student we were not making fun of anyone. Sometimes I think I am on my last leg in the classroom. At least I can count on those 10-12 year olds for some comic relief from time to time.

Language

2005-11-02T21:06:00.000-06:00

I am a special ed language teacher. It is my job to teach 5th and 6th graders how to speak, read, write, and understand the English language. Sadly, I am not sure I have the firmest grasp of the subject myself. That however, is a blog of a different color.

As I trudge through the language program I have been trained to teach, sometimes I sit back and wonder... Why can't I get these kids to see that, " I stay on 3rd St." or "He like her." is not correct English. You may think I am being funny or mean, but I am serious. Then I look and listen to the others around me and hear fellow teachers use the same incorrect grammar. Finally, I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to hammer (figuatively) the idea that the way "they" speak is wrong, and the way "I" speak is right.

Today, though, I saw a part of a program about different languages that changed my thinking. As I was flipping channels I noticed a man teaching Language to a class that resembled those at my school. I stopped to listen, and found that the teacher was validating their ebonics which he called Affrican American Language (AAL). Basically, the focus was to teach them the standatd English used in schools in order for them to be succesful in the acedemic setting. I can't wait to take it back to my class. I have not studied the AAL enough to actually use the "scientific" jargin in the TV program, but I did gleen, that if the students feel that you are telling them it is ok to have their own language, but they need to learn this particular language to be successful in school, we will see at least more interest in learning if not motivation.

Some of you may be thinking Duh, dumb ass. But, I think somtimes the simplest of ideas can make a world of difference.
If there are any other s out there in my situation, I hope this helps you. Let me know.

Go Astros

2005-10-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

How disappointing was Tuesday's game? We set all of these records with the longest playoff game ever and then the longest World Series game ever, but we have not won a game this series. It would have been too cool to win the first ever World Series game played in Houston. Oh well we still love our Stros. Go Astros! We can still win!

Wow

2005-10-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

Hi firends. I have a blog. I feel very technically empowered! I can conquer the word! Ok, maybe the PC. Ok, maybe not.