Does a 98 degree bath make me infertile?

(Courtesy Google images)

Do you ever check your stats for your blog on blogg.er? If not, you should. It's some pretty interesting information. Someone found me using the search keywords, "does a 98 degree bath make me infertile." I'm pretty sure I never blogged about that. ha! That's certainly not why we are infertile. Or is it? ;) 

Hope you are all having a great week! We've had a busy, but wonderful week. We are going camping with some friends from our small group this weekend. Have I mentioned how much I love fall in Texas? Well, I do! Bring on Friday!

What do you have going on this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I will!

The Best Small Group

I've written before about how blessed I feel to be part of such an amazing small group.  These wonderful people have become some of my very best friends.  Living so far away from my family, they have become my family here in Texas.  They have supported us through our fertility treatments and now with our adoption journey.  They have prayed with us, for us and over us.  They are some of the most amazing, giving people I know.  I love them all. 

We hosted our small group at our house most of the summer since we have a pool.  The kids and adults all love the pool and it gives us a great time to fellowship.  One Sunday, our friends surprised us with some baby  necessities.  It wasn't a shower, because they know I want to wait until we have a baby home with us.  They did however want us to be prepared in case we get a sudden placement.  Like I said, they are the best! 

Here are some pics from that evening.

Just a few of us

Here's all of our goodies in the nursery. 

Sam follows me from room to room.  He's never far from my side. 

The dresser you see in the pic about is the dresser I found on Craigs.list for $100.  It has so much room and it will be perfect as a changing table.  There were just a few scratches that I touched up with paint.  I can't wait to fill it up with stuff.  :)

Thought for Thursday

(courtesy of google images)

Never let go of hope.

One day you will see that it all has finally come together.

What you have always wished for has finally come to be.

I posted this on face.book yesterday and decided to share it here after I read an amazing post by my sweet friend Deni at Making Our Troxclair Family.  Go read what she had to say about Hope in her post today.  Thanks Deni...you are such an encouragement!  hugs

Are You Kidding Me?!?!

I did a goo.gle search for toddler adoption showers and toddler adoption yesterday.  Some of the articles that came up floored me.  I was shocked and also pretty upset!

Here are just a couple of the quotes I found...believe me there were several more where these came from.  By the way...I didn't find these quotes in just one article.

And all babies need "stuff", even an adopted child, so having an adoption baby shower for this child is not only acceptable, but necessary.

Even an adopted child????  This child??  Glad to know it's acceptable.


"I helped throw a baby shower for a friend who adopted a child last November.  This was her second child (her first was her own).  We pretty much treated it as we would any shower."

Her own?  What do we as parents who are adopting or have adopted need to do to get others to understand that children that are adopted are our OWN children?  They just join our families in a different way! 


"The addition of a new child to a family is a wondrous occasion! An adopted baby is just as much a miracle as any other and should be celebrated as such."

Here's the thing with this last one.  I think the writer of this post meant well.  What I have a problem with is the term "adopted baby."  The first quote also used "adopted child."  The baby/child was adopted...it's not a term we should use to describe the child.  It's an action word...not and adjective.  I don't want my child to be five years old and have someone say, "Oh so this is your adopted child?"  No...this is my child!


Maybe I'm overly sensitive or over-reacting, but I don't think so.  I never want our child to feel anything less than completely loved and wanted.  I know I'll deal with stupid comments and hopefully handle them with grace, but I really wish I didn't have to.

Secret Identity

(photo courtesy google images)



A couple weeks ago one of my students hurt his knee before school.  He went to see the nurse and she gave him an ice pack to make him feel better.  When he got to class he went on and on about his ice pack.  Did you know second graders love ice packs??  Well, they do! 

He was sitting at his desk reading when his BFF walked in the door to our room.

What happened next still cracks me up.

He yelled across the room, "Hey T, do you recognize me with my ice pack?"  I immediately busted out laughing and said, "J, you don't have the ice pack on your face, it's on your knee."

Whoever said teaching was boring?  It certainly wasn't me!!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I think I've mentioned my love for children's books before. I love, love, love them! As a former kindergarten teacher...up until this year....I have a love for all things Dr. Seuss. His books are great for teaching rhyming. I read, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!  to my class last week and it really hit home to me. I feel like this one part is my life right now.

*picture courtesy of wikipedia

"You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

                   You can get all hung up
                    in a prickle-ly perch.
                   And your gang will fly on.
                   You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chance are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down those long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place..."

Do you ever feel like your friends have flown on without you? I sure do. Don't get me wrong...I have amazing IRL friends! They have been wonderful during all of this. But, there are many things I don't share with them because unless you've been down this path, you don't get it. I have friends who are done having babies, I have friends that are having second and third babies and I have friends that are just starting their families. What are we doing?? Waiting!

Believe me...none of this has been our plan.  Those bang-ups have happened along the way.  I've also spent my time in a slump and it's no kind of fun! It stinks! I don't like feeling bad. I wish I was stronger. I wish I trusted God so much that I never questioned Him. It's not that I don't trust Him, because I definitely do, but a lot of the time I question Him. It's the control freak in me. :) I know that. I also know that this has been good for me. It stinks, but it's been good. I've learned that life is not about what I want. This life is about what God wants for me. It's about what God wants me to do with this life He's given me.

During all of this, I've decided that while I'm in this "Waiting Place," I'm going to use this time to serve God and to praise Him. Because, I know however our story ends it will be just the way we've always wanted it. Our path to the end will just be different than we planned.

I think I mentioned that our small group did a study on the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan last spring. It was amazing! The book has changed my thinking in so many ways.  It made me think more about my relationship with God and with other people.  It made me think about my love for Jesus.  Do I love him enough that I'm willing to take risks?  Am I willing to love him in that crazy way that I would do anything for him?  Good stuff!
This Friday, our small group is going to the World Impact Conference in Dallas to hear Francis speak!  He has such a heart for those that need help.  I know I will be convicted and encouraged when I leave there. 

If you aren't familiar with Francis, take four minutes and watch this video.  It's pretty powerful! 




"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."
— Francis Chan