Wendy's Birthday

So I had a birthday recently and wanted to thank everyone for their calls, emails and cards. It was a great day. It may sound funny, but my birthday started out with me getting my CPR and First Aid certification. It was fun and it gets us one step closer to getting licensed with the adoption agency. When I got home my dear sweet husband had cleaned my house. Now, you say, how bad could it have been, there are only two of you. That is true, but when you have spent the past two weekends out of your house at adoption trainings and have been working full-time, it is amazing what a tile floor can look like. So I got home to a clean house and then got to open cards and presents. YEAH!!! Always the best part. Jonathan got me a great recipe book, that I have been wanting and can't wait to try some of the recipes. He also got me some cool decorations for the outside of the house. Pictured. We ended the evening by going out to dinner and then I got to pick a chick flick and he watched it with me. What a great day.

Where have we been?

Hello again!! I know it has been a while. Almost three months now, but we are still here. Most of our fellow friends are aware that we have been going through the motions of adopting. What does this entail, well,let me give you a list - Adoption (parenting) classes, ten of them. Making modifications to our home - including interconnecting smoke detectors, attic door locks and other child protective measures. Then having our TB test done, CPR certification completed, Fingerprints sent off to the FBI, background checks completed as well as a mountain of paperwork.

Now - you say, what will this get you and why are you doing this? We are doing this because after much prayer, we feel that God has led us in this direction. We are so excited about becoming parents. God has given both Jonathan and I a peace about this. Does that peace always remain - YES - but that doesn't mean that we don't get scared and confused sometimes. We have asked the adoption agency for a sibling group of up to three kids no older than 4 years old. This means that we could conceivably have three children placed in our home at once all under the age of four. Heaven help us!! We do have peace about it and know that this would be our forever family that God has designed for us. About now you are asking, well what about race, ethnicity? We have talked about that too and we are open to God's guidance on that. When we are asked if we are interested in a particular group of kids, we will pray and ask God's leadership and peace.

I have to say that even though I am not pregnant, all of my senses are heightened. This process has been quick for the most part, even though sometimes it feels like it is taking forever. We are finished with all but two of our classes, are getting ready for the fire marshall to come inspect our home and then it is finalizing paperwork and the home study. Since we just started this in April, I think we are cruising right along. I will keep you posted as we near the next step, which is the fire marshall. Keep us in your prayers as we are excited, scared, apprehensive, and ever faithful about this journey that God is taking us on.

Spring Break

Well, we are here in Phoenix, AZ for spring break. The drive was long, but fun as Jonathan and I always have a good time together. We brought our dog along for the trip as well, so that made things a little more fun too. As I write this I am still in AZ, so there will probably be more posts later. We have been able to see many friends and family being here this time. My aunt and uncle are down here from Minnesota so it has been fun catching up with them. We were able to go out to dinner with the whole clan and got a really cute picture of my niece making a funny face. The best part so far has been the fact that I was able to throw Jonathan a suprise birthday party out here. It is about two weeks before his birthday and he had no idea. It was great. Enjoy the pictures!!

Life without cable

Well, I have to say that there really has not been a lot going on in the Stephenson household. Jonathan and I are still working hard and doing well. We did have a wonderful week and a half without cable or internet though. Hang on, this get's long! I woke up one morning and Jonathan had already gone and, as usual, turned the news on as I was getting ready for work. Well, nothing happened when I turned the TV on. So I went to the computer (next closest access) and no internet. Thought this was odd, but figured that there was an outage in our area. Came home for lunch, yes, I live close enough to work that I can come home for lunch, and it was still dead. So I called our provider and they said they would send someone out the next day. I wait...He finally shows up, but doesn't know how to do anything because he is brand new. Can't find the problem and says he will have someone else come out the next day. I ask when? He says they will call in the morning. Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I am proactive. I called first thing the next morning. Oh...they didn't know that someone was supposed to come out. The first guy hadn't put in any ticket to have someone else come out. So the second person out finds the problem: our neighbors new puppy had dug up and chewed through the line. Eureka!!! The person gave me the ticket number to have the line repaired and said it should be 24 to 48 hours. Well...6 days later they finally show up, and yes, we called everyday a few times a day to harrass them. Well, the guy fixes the line, buries the line and says that all is good. Problem - I still don't have cable. Well, the guy who fixes the line isn't allowed in customers homes, that has to be someone else. So, on the phone again. They say they can have someone out the next day. Again, I wait... The guy shows up and fixes the problem. We have cable, or at least we thought we did, 24 hours later, we lost cable again. I look over the fence and you guessed it, the puppy had dug up the line and chewed through it, AGAIN! Well, thankfully the line guy that had come out a couple of days before gave us his card. So I called him. He was out of the city, but gave me his supervisors number. I called the supervisor and bingo, what took us six days before was fixed the same day. Then I proceeded to a local hardware store and purchased fencing supplies and installed a chickenwire fence around the buried cable line for my neighbors to keep the puppy out... at least for a little while. AH the joys of internet and quality cable tv again.

Wendy's Dad's Birthday

Since Wendy was able to stay a little bit longer, she was able to be there for her Dad's birthday. He turned 61 this year, in case you were wondering. He is single, has a good job - oh wait this isn't a dating service site - opps!

So anyway, we went to the Wildlife World Zoo with the family, except Jonathan for the day. It was a lot of fun and thankfully the weather was nice. Of course, I loved it also because I got to spend more time with my niece. YEAH! Later that night we met up again to go to Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse for dinner and of course my brother and I ganged up on my dad and made him get the hat that he is wearing. We also made him sit on the saddle at the restaurant, but as usual with me, I forgot the camera completely, so we had to get a picture of him later with the hat. It was a fun day and one that I hope my dad will remember and cherish. Happy Birthday Dad!

New Year's Eve

Since we were in Phoenix we did what some of the Phoenicians do. We went to the Tempe Tostito's Fiesta Bowl Block Party. Well, we didn't actually go, we stayed home out of the cooler temperatures and then went to a parking garage just a block away at about 11pm and hung out until midnight when we wished everyone a Happy New Year and watched the fireworks over the lake. Then it was a quick drive home and off to bed as 7am comes mighty early when you don't get to bed until after 1am. Why on earth did we have to get up so early? Well, Jonathan had to be back in Houston for work on the 2nd and the cheapest flight was the earliest one. So we booked it. It was nice though because we were able to ring in the new year with just the two of us like we did our first year together. AWW the memories! So HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone and I hope that it is going well for all of you. May God bless you in this new year.

Christmas 2008

Ok, so January is almost over and I am just now getting to put pictures and a posting on what went on. What can I say, I am still reveling in the after Christmas slow down. YEAH RIGHT!! So, again this year we went to Wendy's dad's house in Phoenix for Christmas and decided to stay on for New Years. We flew in on Christmas Eve and went from the airport, home to change and then off to church for the Christmas Eve service. Christmas day however was a lot slower. We were able to have a leisurely breakfast, went and saw the movie Marley and Me (take the tissues) and then went over to my brothers house that evening for a family Christmas present opening with our one year old niece. It was so much fun. My niece loved to help everyone open their presents. She is such a joy. I wish we could see more of her and I miss watching her grow up and doing things with her that I was able to do with my girlfriends son that I call my nephew. Maybe they will move to Houston some day - again - YEAH RIGHT!! We got to see a lot of friends and even though we took the camera to most of the things we did, unfortunately we forgot to take pictures. I guess we were just busy enjoying the company of friends instead of worrying about capturing the moment on camera. Here are a few from the family Christmas present opening with my niece. Enjoy!!