Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're taking a trip this holiday.  Not to visit family, just a vacation for the two of us.  Last year I thought the Christmas cruise would be our last "just the two of us" vacation and this year we would at least be planning our travels to Africa.  Silly me. 

Anyway, hoping our travels are smooth and the weather is fine.  I would hate to end up stranded somewhere like these two.

Anyone remember this classic exchange:


Neal: Del... Why did you kiss my ear?
Del:  Why are you holding my hand?
Neal: Where's your other hand?
Del: Between two pillows...
Neal: Those aren't pillows!

No matter where we celebrate this holiday, we are continually thankful to have each other, our families, our furbabies and friends.  Especially the friends we have met along this journey who just get "it" and understand our pendulum mood swings.

And Anne - He is beautiful and he is home.  No other Thanksgiving will top this one. 

How do you Measure a Year?

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Moments so dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure - Measure A Year?
In Daylights - In Sunsets
In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles
In Laughter - In Strife

One year ago today we were officially added to our agency's waitlist. 

So how do we measure the last year?

In the number of places we have moved on the waitlist?  (Down 40 on the boys' list and 57 on the girls' list)

In the number of times I have thought about our child? (too many to count)

In the number of times I have doubted whether this will finally happen? (see answer above)

In plans made?  In wait times that have increased? In changes to the program?  In times I have despaired?

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure - Measure A Year?
In Referrals - In Movement
In Changes in wait times
In Sorrows - In Prayers
In Strength- In Faith

I"m not sure how I will measure this next coming year.  But I hope to measure it
in smiles (my child's),
in miles (the journey to Ethiopia),
in joy and in blessings. 

Are You Gonna Eat Those Tots?

Yes, I am married to Napoleon Dynamite's doppelganger.   We had a great time this last weekend at a Halloween party.  And the hubby wowed everyone with his sweet dance moves.

 I insisted the hubby was such a natural born Napoleon (complete with nunchuck skills) that he needed to dress up to hand out candy. Of course he couldn't just hand out candy, he had to ask each kid whether they were gonna eat their tots, if they were going to vote for Pedro and if they did all their dreams would come true. The parents and older kids loved him.  The younger kids were either thinking this is what my parents meant when they taught me stranger danger or this is where the neighborhood dweeb lives. 

I love Halloween.  Hands down my favorite day.  There is the dressing up aspect which never gets old.

The kids, the candy, the Great Pumpkin.

My favorite costume of the night was a little boy about 3 years old dressed as Darth Vader.  Yup.  I can already see my husband dressed as Chewbacca leading our own little Darth around the neighborhood some day.