AAACCCKKKK....COMPUTERS!!!

My laptop is in retirement after being only 4 years old, but in techno ways these days, its time for a new one. I have been trying to rev her up with more memory, but NO, she is being STUBBORN! The GEEK SQUAD even helped me pick out the appropriate memory for my type of computer and she is failing to cooperate! We could really use a new one, but we are holding out until we get closer to our referral. The way things are going, if we purchased another laptop now, it will be in retirement by the time we get our referral! So in the meantime, I am practicing patience....the theme of my life!

Real Men Play With Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we have a local campaign going on called "Real Men Wear Pink". I think this is an interesting campaign since it has brought forth more men talking about how they play a role and our affected by the effects of breast cancer! Jack has brought a new twist to this campaign to remind us that real men play with pink! He has helped the women in our family and those who walk through our doors each week!

October Stamp Club Projects

I have a group of ladies that come over the first Friday of every month to stamp and create projects with Stampin' Up! products! This is the first club I have had and it has been so much fun getting to know these ladies more and use my resources to come up with projects! We had a Halloween theme this past month and created a spinner card, paper balls/ lantern, a dixie cup basket and decorated a sucker! I LOVE the paper balls and how you can change them with the seasons! I am already pondering making some for Christmas using all the papers I have collected! I LOVE my stamps, but am getting a paper addiction!

Thanks Mama Pat!

Troy and I received the cutest ducky quilt a couple of weeks ago from Mama Pat. Mama Pat is our "surrogate mother" who always has a listening ear and truly understands what Troy and I have been through and continue to deal with. She and her husband are true jewels! Mama Pat is a talented seamstress and asked to make us a quilt for our little one(s), but wanted to know what theme we wanted. Troy LOVES rubber ducks and we will be the "Roenfanz Rubber Duckies" if we ever have our own team, plus it is unisex since we don't care if we get a boy, girl or both! The quilt turned out perfect and has so many special little touches to it like the duck family on the back. I also hope her note in the card that accompanied it is true: "Now that I've finally got it there, maybe it will be a good omen for them to speed up in China! :-) " We hope so too!

10 Months LID and Prayer Request

Today marks 10 months since our dossier was logged into China and our wait officially began. I must say we are pretty bummed out at this time. Rumor Queen had a post on Wednesday regarding the future of the wait time and it was depressing. Of course she is not God and is looking only at previous numbers and other sources, but it downright STUNK! They are saying the wait can get to 34-36 months! The CCAA has "said" they will try to match at least 15 days of LID's each month starting in 2008, but that still puts us at another 2 years if we are lucky! We chose China for a number of reasons, but one of those was their speedier rate of referrals and integrity in the adoption process... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (I know we are desperate !!!) pray for this process to speed up, especially for the children in the orphanages! They ARE out there and need to be in their FOREVER FAMILIES NOW! Please pray for Troy and I, especially for patience and understanding during this time!

On a better note, the CCAA is done with referrals through November 2005! I read somewhere that it took 6 months to get through November! CRAZY! I feel for all those families! It did take them only 23 days to review the entire month of August 2006 LID's in the Review Room!

Hawks, Bulbs, Muffins and Other Ramblings...

It is Sunday night and I am reviewing the past weekend and how fast it has gone! I am also relishing that I only have to work a 1/2 day on Monday since the schools are closed, but the prenatal clinic remains open!

I had my stamp club meet on Friday night and we had a great time making a Halloween spinner card, paper lantern and a Dixie cup basket! I will have to post pictures of the projects later. Troy went golfing with friends while we met and he had an incredible game...it must be the new golf shirt he received for his birthday. He came home excited as always and had to tell me the story, hole by hole! He did shoot 1 above par a week ago!

Since Troy had to work at the the soccer fields on Saturday, I caught up with some grocery shopping and went to Kohls for some more silverware. It is amazing how often we do dishes and run out of silverware with 1-2 extra people in the house per day! How do these families of 16 do it! I ended the evening (after having our weekly Mexican dinner and buying birdseed) with making muffins for house church on Sunday. We start off with a potluck breakfast each morning and it gives me an excuse to try out different recipes or throw together my experiments! So far so good despite Abby saying my food is too spicy! Hello, I am from Texas and we like flavor! I give her a hard time. Troy said he was the same way, but his taste buds have adjusted! She will be a spice lover before she knows it! Oh, Abby and Troy are depressed since Iowa lost. Next week is the big Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Texas Longhorns game, so I have been told. I told Troy we might as well become Illinois fans since they are doing very well this year. I am not a football lover, but I listen to the stories.

House church was incredible again! Each week has been totally different and while we have between 6-8 meet each week, we have had new faces each time! It is so relational because you actually get to talk to people and talk during church! Drinking coffee the entire time is not a bad addition either! Plus, Jack gets to join us! I love having our dog at church! After a short nap, I planted 100 spring bulbs this afternoon. This is a first for me, so we will see what happens. My hands are feeling it though! We are praying for rain and cooler weather! It was 94 degrees today and it is October in the Midwest. We were going to go to the pumpkin patch this afternoon, but it felt too much like summer! My parents are coming in on Wednesday from Texas and we are going to take them on Thursday. The weather is to be in the upper 60's, so I pray it feels more like Fall! The leaves are changing colors and dropping to the ground, but the temps are in the 90's! Global warming...