It's all about Laminin

Like I said in the previous blog, I have been seeing God work in and around me within the last 2 weeks in some pretty unbelievable ways. There is no one that can tell me that 'miracles' don't happen anymore, or that God isn't actually involved in our lives. He is so present in your every move, in the things around you and only when you open your eyes to the things of God will you begin to recognize the power in his love.

In asking God to speak to me today, and bring me peace, He did so. Many of you know about my love for science and the study of the human body, this really spoke to me. Today I heard about a protein molecule called Laminin...it's in the body and apparently it's pretty important. I'd never heard about it before. A few hours later as I was writing this I was searching for a music link to add to a different blog, when instead I fell across the following clip, unaware what it was about. ...Again I'd never heard of or seen this molecule until today...now I've seen it twice, and it made me cry....I/We are being held together by the Creator of the Universe in more ways than one....you have to see this video. I came across it for a reason, it's meant for someone out there to see besides me today. Don't be afraid if, when you ask God to speak,...He does...because He will. I had forgotten that, but I have been brought around to it again.

http://

7 down...2 to go

7 of 9 adoption classes now completed!!! Only 2 left, and let me tell you, we are getting soooo excited. Once the classes are completed then we will be able to start our homestudy process. With that complete and a quite a few more papers to fill out, we will be able to be put on the list. We have been 'assigned' a social worker...I have to admit it feels a bit odd to say, 'we have a social worker...' It usually seems like only a select few of society 'gets' a social worker. She is pretty cool, she has been co-teaching the classes, so it's been nice to get to know her slowly before she comes bounding into our lives wanting to know all the griddy details. Once we go through the homestudy I will be able to tell you a bit more about what it looks like. But for now my impressions of it essentially means interviews with each Rob and I and a look around the house to make sure it's 'safe.' They can interview the children in the house too, in which case, Isaiah would probably try to give her a nice 'high-five' and maybe share his milk along with showing her just how much he LOVES having his diaper changed.

In the last class they did an exercise with us to give us an idea of what to expect in the 'choosing' phase. They had a stack of pictures of real kids that have since found homes. On the back was their bios....their history and what they've been through. We were asked to determine if this was a child we would consider taking...just to get us thinking about what we would see. Each time she held up a photo...without hesitation, and without hearing the bio....I called out "I'll TAKE HIM (HER)...THEM (siblings)." Everyone was kinda giving me the 'she's crazy' look, and the teacher said I was funny (thinking I was joking I suppose). What they don't realize (my husband does, however), is that I really wasn't kidding. I really don't care...if there is a child that needs a home....ours will be it.

Last Friday my patient's mom told me she was ready to turn off life support and talk about organ donation. I spent the remainder of the night getting my patient ready to donate his organs (it's a 12-24 hour process, before you can officially let them die and donate). The little boy was 6 months old, and beautiful...and had been shaken to death. He had been the second child to donate his organs last week due to child abuse.
NEED I SAY MORE....I will take any of them.

I am just VERY excited to be able to step in and save one of these precious ones from a life of trauma

...now if only through this blog I can begin to encourage others to do the same.

And as a side note....I really think that God can be pretty humorous in the ways that he uses to get our attention. There are times that I have felt God stirring me to do something...the other day was an example. I really felt like I needed to give a friend of mine a phone call. On that particular day, I completely forgot and got caught up in my day. My friend has a very beautiful and unique name that I have ever only known to belong to her. On my way home that night, I caught a glimpse of the licence plate in front of me....and what do you think was on it...her name! And it wasn't her car, but we followed it almost all the way to our front door. I got the hint God...the only thing more obvious would have been a neon sign giving me specific instructions....He'll do anything to get our attention, that's for sure. Amazing things have been happening in my life recently in which God has specifically gotten my attention. Keep your eyes peeled for updates.
My friend seemed to agree with me...there are no coincidences in life. Life is a beautifully woven story.

Tag- Your It...Okay I'll Play

My turn I guess, well here goes nothin'....I've never done one of these...Jamie, I'll get you for this.


Four jobs I’ve had:
1) Telemarketer (selling diet pills and other random things...i.e. Texas tourist stuff)
2) Day Care
3) Hostess for the Cliff House
4) Coffee Shop Barista, Nine West Shoe Store, Nanny, HomeCare Giver, Thomas Kinkade Gallery, Waitress, Old Navy, Assisted Living Nursing Assistant, ER, Newborn Nursery....I know that I have a few more...sorry I couldn't limit it to just four....I have worked a riduculous number of places.


Four movies I’ve watched more than once:
1) Pride and Prejudice
2) Bourne Identity
3) Wild Hearts can't be Broken
4) Oceans Eleven


Four TV shows I watch:
1) The Office
2) So You Think You Can Dance
3) Hero's
4) Nothing right now, cause none of those shows are on.....(oh ya, One Tree Hill from Net Flix, I guess that counts.)


Four places I’ve been:
1) Interlaken, Switzerland
2) Cluj, Romania
3) Cinqa Terra, Italy
4) Cabo San Lucas, Mexico


Four people who email me regularly:
1) My sister (wedding stuff!)
2) Bible Study Girls
3) Rob (sometimes it's the only way we can remember to tell each other stuff)
4) Amazon....no more books please...I can't read all the ones I have


Four of my favorite foods:
1) Fruit
2) Coffee
3) Coffee
4) Fruit
......needless to say, I stay regular

Four places I would love to visit:
1) Scotland
2) India
3) South Africa
4) Romania (again)


Four things I’m looking forward to in the coming year:
1) Adopting our new baby
2) Finishing our front yard, and having dirt to grow things in!!!
3) Possibly Parking in my garage
4) Snow boarding (it's been almost 2 years)


Four friends I’m tagging: Abbey, Gina, Alyssa, Bethany
(and if you don't want to play, just yell out (really loud) "Not it!" and ignore this post!)

Hot Tamale Train!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!

Tickets came in the mail yesterday!!!!! HERE WE COME!!!!! My dancing shoes are waiting by the door, I'm hoping to sneak in and give them all a preview of my talent, and maybe be wisked away to join them on tour. What? It could happen. Nigel here I come.

I Admit, I'm a Junky

Okay, Okay....I love talk radio. I know what you're thinking. But there is this one show in particular that Rob and I enjoy in the morning, on talk 650. It's the Armstrong and Getty show. They talk about all kinds of things. I love it, they always get me thinking.

Any closet Armstrong and Getty fans out there?

Well, anyway, if you are a fan, you may know about a frequent caller they have whose name is Basel, from Iraq and is quite funny and interesting. The other day, Rob and I were driving on the free-way and I happened to notice this license plate that read 'Basel' on it, and thought, it was funny (ask me about my Basel story from our travels in Switzerland sometime) and just like that caller's name, then Rob noticed his Armstrong and Getty bumper sticker. As we passed him, sure enough a middle aged Iraqi man was driving and looked exactly like I thought he would. So I did the first thing that came to mind, I leaned way over with a big smile and waved at him...and as if he knew exactly why we were waving, he smiled and enthusiastically waved right back. Rob and I got a good giggle out of it for about 10 minutes.

I'm adding them to my list of web-sites to stop at because they are available on pod-cast which is a fantastic way to cut commercials. Also I have some new books listed (***Leota's Garden***is fantastic) if you hadn't noticed before, and also I changed the link to my friend Gretchen Jones to a site she more frequently updates. She has lived in Peru the last 5 years? and always has incredible stories from her work there. Also added the Cunningham blog this week. Check it out.

Safeway can kiss my paycheck good-bye...and other money saving tips

1. I am finished with Safe-way. On 2 different occasions this week I had to run there to grab something....(I haven't been good about going to the store and thinking ahead lately). A box of pasta, a particular brand that we like....$3 at Safe-way and $1 dollar at Win-co
******Mayonnaise.....$5 at Safe-way.......$3.27 at Win-co******
and many, many, many, many other examples. I might as well be throwing my money into the street (as my mother used to say....oh goodness, when did that happen).

SOOOOO....SO LONG SAFE-WAY and HELLLLLLO WIN-CO

2. Even though we had insurance, supposedly the best kind....it is ridiculously expensive. For Isaiah's 15 month check up and shots, it was going to cost almost $700 of which I had to pay over $150 out of pocket. (And by the way, it took 5 different phone numbers/phone calls and a 4 day wait in order for them to tell me how much it cost).
LIKE HECK......I made an appointment at the county public health department, and for $40 dollars we waited 15 minutes and were seen by a very nice nurse and out we went 15 minutes later, immunization card all stamped up.

So for those of you on a limited budget, take it from me, Win-co and Trader Joes are where it's at, and the health department for your little ones. Do you have money saving tips? Leave me your budget tips in the comments section....we could use them.

Ugliness and Silly Fun

For quite some time now i have purposely left my blogs light and fun. I have avoided blogging all the crazy thoughts that run through my head constantly...mostly for fear that i will freak everyone out, or depress them and they will never read my blog again. The thing is I've decided that my life is a little or maybe a lot like the t.v. show M*A*S*H. Well not specifically, but in theory.

Let me explain, (and I love this show, by the way). I began looking over my previous blogs and was thinking how heavy they were...and I thought, 'well that's not a good representation of me.' I'd like to think of myself as very light-hearted, funny, goofy and always ready for a good time or to join in the party. So it might be a little psychotic, but it's a bit like MASH. The story line is set in a very serious, depressing and full of difficult situations, and yet they find ways to be funny and have a great time in spite of it all.

The new residents are out in full force at work right now...it's that time of year, and the med-students are eagerly trailing at their coat tails (literally). It almost made me giggle the other night at work watching 2 med students faces as they talked so excitedly about a patient and what they had planned for the day etc. It got me thinking. It is fascinating to me to watch the change that takes place in peoples faces over the years. It's the same change of face that happens to nursing students, med students, social workers, police in training, or as in M*A*S*H the difference between a private and a lieutenant. It is so obvious the difference in the face of a 'trainee' and that of one that has been in the 'force' for a few years, just by looking at someone you can tell at what stage they are. The difference, well...the reality of life, and the ugliness and difficulties that it brings.

Again, let me explain. Life is just beginning for these poor ignorant people. They are filled with wonder and excitement as they begin their careers and begin learning all that it takes to do their jobs. But slowly a change takes place in them. I clearly remember just getting out of college, a good friend of ours through-out college went to the police academy to become a sheriff. This was the goofiest, guy, always ready for a good time, or ready to start one, a dare-devil. He completed the academy and was a little different, but still the same guy, only with hints of changes (i.e. the hair cut), and a sutle serious under-tone. Then the years of working in the jail and on the streets. A change had taken place in his face.

The same is true I believe for a new mom, or a veteran mom...a newly-wed or a 10/20 year married veteran. We all start out with such altruism....that things are supposed to be a certain way, and when we suddenly realize that things aren't so, and that change is tuff, and life is ugly...that, I believe is called growing up.

So I fell into that category. I wanted to change the world, be the sort of nurse/mom that makes a difference. But the reality of life has set in, and I have to force myself back to that silly girl that I believe that I am inside, and make a concentrated effort to be goofy and light-hearted, because it's all too easy to get uptight, serious, and tense. We are all that same little girl (or boy)inside, the same one we were before tragedies hit us, or real life was realized. We must find the balance and believe that silliness and joy and fun can exist simultaneously as the ugliness of life....just like M*A*S*H. ...or better yet, what happens in us when we focusing on the joy of the perfect love that the Father extends to his children.

(this is the ugliness I get to see at work)
I was unfortunate to hear a sound again last Friday night that I dread the most. It is the most awful sound in all the world, and no one can argue it with me. It is the sound that comes out of a mommy the very moment her child has died. It fills the air, and for minute the world stops, I think even all of Heaven holds their breath, it is silent, except for the wail of a woman, alone with her baby in her arms. There is NOTHING more horrible, more sickening, than listening to a mom wail and cry things like....'my baby, my baby, my baby......wake up, wake up...sit up come on wake up....lets go home, lets just go home....can't we just go home.' The anguish, the sound as she cries comes from a place that is only tapped in that moment. No one can know her pain, but all the nurses and doctors hold back tears as they try and not think of themselves in her shoes. And it doesn't matter how old that 'baby' is, because a mom's children will always be her babies. This young mom is now a veteran in life, fighting just to make it through.

I really hate that sound. It haunts me sometimes at home. My job has definitely become harder and harder lately. To make matters worse, Friday night I could have jovially been scap-booking with the girls (or pretending to...or just talking, I don't scap-book) instead of listening to the harshness of reality.

So although a bit schizophrenic, I want my blog to more accurately describe me, with equal parts ugly reality and silly fun...a bit like M*A*S*H.


'Set your mind on the things above, not on earthly things.' Col 3:2
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." ~Jesus~ John 14: 1
This next one is SWEET
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? SHALL TROUBLE OR HARDSHIP or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. " Romans 8:35-39

BEWARE!!!

I told you that I had some catching up to do for July. Well....I did it. Please check out all 3 posts below, with lots and lots of fun pictures. Leave a comment if you'd like.

A Baby Shower and a Birthday Party

My friend Eunice and I had planned a baby shower for our friend Alyssa...but silly us, didn't know that baby Alaina was going to join us a whole month early. Alyssa, looking awesome, only 5 days after Alaina was born, was still up for the party. It was a beautiful day of hanging out with the work girls. We threw the party at my parents due to the previous blog (Check out our Beloved Dirt Blog). It was lots of fun....check it out.

PROUD PARENTS

NOW THAT'S A MAN!!! HANGING OUT WITH BABY GIRL AT HIS WIFE'S BABY SHOWER...GOOD STUFF MITCH.
A COUPLE OF BEAUTIES, CHECK OUT STEPH'S CUTE BELLY

OKAY, SO WE COULDN'T MEASURE ALYSSA'S BELLY SIZE SINCE SHE DIDN'T HAVE ONE ANYMORE....SO WE GUESSED BUST SIZE

MARIANKA, GETTING SOME GOOD SNUGGLE TIME

EUNICE...JUST BEING GEORGOUS

NOW THERE'S A BUNCH OF HOT/SMART WOMEN...NOT AFRAID OF PINK

AND THAT AFTERNOON, ISAIAH AND I WENT TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY WHERE WE GOT TO EXPLORE A REAL FIRETRUCK. THE FIREMEN WERE GREAT, TAKING SOME TIME TO STOP BY THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, IT WAS A REAL TREAT FOR ALL THE KIDS.
SAVANNAH'S NOT SO SURE ABOUT IT....

BIRTHDAY BOY, JACOB, TRYING ON SOME FIREFIGHTER DUDS.

MY LITTLE EXPLORER...I COULD SEE HIM AS A FIREFIGHTER....WE SHALL SEE

Jeanette's Engagement Party

Mid-July, my sister Jeanette and her fiance Mike flew in from Hawaii. Mike's family in San Francsico threw them a big engagement party. This gave us an opportunity to spend some time down in the at area with them and getting to know Mike's family. It was soooooo good to see them. The party was a blast, with lots of people, and here are a few pics!

THE HAPPY COUPLEGREAT PIC OF MY MOM AND DAD
SILLY AUNT JEANETTE

CUTTING A FABULOUS CAKE MADE BY A FAMILY FRIEND

A KISS CAUGHT ON FILM

AHHHH IN-LAWS

SISTERS TO THE CORE

CAN'T EVEN TELL WE'RE RELATED...J/K, WE LOOK SO MUCH ALIKE, IT'S FRIGHTENING

TRYING ON A FEW DRESSES JUST FOR FUN, SHE LOOKED AMAZING

OUR BELOVED YARD OF DIRT

Since this has been such a crazy and long project that took up most of our month of July, I had a million pictures of it. It has been quite intense and it scares me a little to be looking at a front yard full of dirt, however, the finished product is exciting to imagine. So here is a little of that journey. At one point the city gave us a stop work order...we didn't exactly stop work, however, we made our peace with the city in the end.

BEFORE
BEFORE - STREET VIEW

CUTTING DOWN ONE OF THE TREES....LOTS OF FUN FOR THE BOYS

ISAIAH IS READY FOR ACTION, NOTICE THE TEDDY GRAHAM IN THE BUCKET

RICHARD-OUR NEIGHBOR- GOT RIGHT TO WORK, HE KNOWS HIS STUFFISAIAH GETTING HIS SHOT ON THE TRACTOR WITH DADDY

RICHARD TAKING THE BOYS FOR RIDES...THEY WERE IN HEAVEN!!!

MITCHELL MOVED HIS FAIR SHARE OF DIRT AROUND TOO!

MIDWAY POINT - A LOOK FROM THE FRONT

ISAIAH IS VERY SERIOUS ABOUT HIS WORK!

AND THE WAY IT LOOKS TODAY, AS WE WAIT FOR THE MATERIALS TO ARRIVE

POOOOOP

FINALLY!!! Months and months of helping Isaiah identify the 'pooping' sensation is starting to pay off. I made a routine of telling Isaiah every time he appeared to be 'pooping' that he was doing so. And then every time we went to the changing table, of stating 'lets get the poop-out,' (said in the same inflexions as 'get the #@*! out')...which seemed to make changes more bear-able for him since I made it a bit silly.

Well yesturday...at 14 months....Isaiah went to the changing table himself, patting it till daddy came over, and then he grabbed his diaper and said quite plainly 'POOP!' And in fact he did have a poopy diaper.
Then this morning when i got him out of his crib he repeated the same to me, he grabbed his diaper, and said, 'POOP!'

Wooooo Hooooo

If only he had this new found ability 2 weeks ago, when i was unaware for a minute that he was sitting in a tub of -floaties-.

One step closer to being potty trianed! Out comes the little potty now!

Sometimes the smallest battles are such huge victories.

Isaiah continues to grow his vocabulary, saying new words all the time. He really likes, "what's this," but the words that he says about a hundred times a day include, car (his favorite), ta (for Tahoe our dog) and shoe. New words for the week include: book (one day he just handed it to me and said, book!...blew me away), and food, (he always did the hand sign for food, but this itme he said it along with the sign). His version of 'I love you,' appears to be shortened to 'you..'

I'll take it!!!!! Motherhood is neat.

Quick Quote from M.T.

A quick quote from M.T. (as we call her,...really Mother Theresa).

"The more we empty ourselves out, the more we leave room for God to fill us." -M.T.-

the only way for me to do this is to...

"Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is the Rock eternal." -Isaiah 26:4-

He calls us his children and loves us so much, I wish I could understand that better.

****I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S AUGUST**** What in the world, pictures of our crazy July will follow soon.