Girls Getaway

Chicago was so much fun! My friend, Barb, and I got back yesterday. We were just there for a couple days, but it was the perfect amount of time to sightsee and shop!

We stayed at the Hilton Chicago...it was such a beautiful hotel. This was our view from our room:

The first night we took a walk and had dinner at a great Italian restaurant named Gioco. The food was so good!

On day 2 we went shopping down the "Magnificent Mile." We had lots of fun window shopping and we even got our makeup done at a department store.
(This is us with our makeup!)

We went to dinner that night at Kitty O'Shea's, an Irish pub in our hotel. They had a band playing, so we got to hear some great music while we talked.

Friday we decided to walk over to the Shedd Aquarium. What a great place! Even the walk over was beautiful - we walked right by the marina across from the hotel. On the way back, we walked past the Taste of Chicago food festival. I took this picture there:

That afternoon we went to a spa and got our nails done. With all of the stress from the last year, it was really nice to be pampered a bit!

On Saturday afternoon, we flew back home. We had such a good time during the whole trip. I know I can't wait to go back there someday - what a great city! I'm really lucky that I got to spend such a nice weekend with my friend.

Leaving on a jet plane...

I'm getting ready to go to Chicago for 3 days with my good friend, Barb. She called me really recently and asked me if I would want to get away for a couple days with her. She's flying in from another state, so we'll meet at the airport and then go on to our hotel together.

We are both really excited. We haven't seen each other since Christmas, and we're both in need of a get-away and some fun. It's pretty fun to plan something like this right before you go - feels kind of spontaneous! I will take lots of pictures and then post some of them once I get back.

I got some great suggestions on things for us to do from my online friends, so I'm excited!

Photo from Wikimedia

This Past Sunday

We had a really good day on Sunday. My side of the family came over to celebrate Father's Day. We offered to host it at our house this time. We had lunch together, talked, and my Dad and Steve opened some gifts together. It was really nice.

We're treating my Dad to a baseball game, and we gave him a t-shirt he can wear to the game, too.

I gave Steve a little outfit that says, "I Love My Daddy," a frame, and a little baby book. My parents also gave him some bibs and a little book, and my sister gave him a card.

I took some pictures and as soon I can get my new camera to upload, I'll post a few. We had my Mom and my sister, Janice, take pictures of us outside, too. We thought we should probably try to take a few throughout the summer in case we have to update our profile later on.

I asked Steve how he felt about celebrating Father's Day and if it was hard at all for him. He said that it actually made him really excited to think that our baby is out there somewhere. I'm glad that he and my Dad had a really good day.

IComLeavWe

International Comment Leaving Week is June 21st - June 29th. I just added my blog to the Stirrup Queens blog list, but I'm not sure that I made it in time for June. I may have to wait to be on the July list since today is the 21st! This is what the author of Stirrup Queens wrote:

Welcome back to IComLeavWe. It stands for International Comment Leaving Week, but if you say it aloud, doesn't it sounds like "I come; [but] leave [as a] we"? And that's sort of the point. Blogging is a conversation and comments should be honoured and encouraged. I like to say that comments are the new hug--a way of saying hello, giving comfort, leaving congratulations.

Another blogger, Murgdan, inspired this post for me, too. She's using her post to find out more about the people who read her blog. So...

Who are you? How did you find this blog? Are you adopting, too? Leave me a comment and tell me a bit about yourself.

About me...I'm Wendy. I like to be creative - I love to paint, work on our house, scrapbook, and take photos. I don't know where I would be if I couldn't be creative in some way.


I am really lucky that I get to do what I love -- I teach elementary school students about...ART! Steve always jokes that he doesn't get drawings and hugs at his job!

I like to be outside. I love the fall - we were married in the fall, I love when it gets just a little cooler, and I love when the leaves start to turn.

I love making desserts - cupcakes, cookies, anything chocolate or with sprinkles! One of my favorite memories from when I was little was when Mom would make cookies (mostly for Christmas) and spread them out on brown paper to cool.

I like to write, so I guess it was kind of natural for me to start writing a blog. I started it because I was having such a hard time with us not being able to conceive. I had seen so many other blogs about the same thing and it helped for me to belong to a group of people who understood what I was going through. Three years later we're adopting domestically through an agency. We've been waiting 6 months, 1 week, and 3 days (but who's counting, right?) I love to read comments that people leave on my blog. It's nice to know that someone cares enough to read what I write and cares enough to give me their thoughts and opinions, too.

Well, that's about it about me, I guess. Your turn...tell me about you!

Heart Cries Blog

I have been very excited all day for another couple from our agency. The birthmother they are working with is at the hospital right now having her baby. Rebekah and Ben know they are having a little boy. They drove all night to make sure they would make it in time for the birth. I'm sure they would appreciate extra support, good wishes, and prayers if you want to stop by their blog: Heart Cries.

Waiting Families

On Thursday (June 11th) we attended a Waiting Families meeting at our agency. They host one every few months. We met after Steve was done with work and drove over together. For this meeting, the agency invited a birthmother and the adoptive parents to talk about their open adoption experience. We were so glad that we went to the meeting. I recognized the couple from our agency's website; they had been on the site back when we were deciding to go with the agency. They shared their experience of going through the home study and getting their profile ready. The birthmom talked about how she chose adoption and then about how she chose the couple. After meeting and getting to know each other, they decided the adoption would be an open adoption. They communicated through emails and texts and met up with each other for appointments as well. They have a similar relationship - emails, phone calls, visits - now as well.

It was really good to hear about such a positive experience on all sides. The birthmom seemed very happy with her choice of adoptive parents as well as with her choice to have an open adoption. The adoptive parents said they couldn't have dreamed of a better situation all-around. Their daughter (who is just 7 1/2 months old) was sitting with the three of them and kept hamming it up for everyone there!

We're both glad we went. We feel like we learn more each time we go. So far, we have heard from a birthmom and her family (her mother and her sister) as well as the adoptive couple and birthmom from Thursday night. We've also heard from another couple who adopted domestically, as well as a woman who (along with her husband) adopted internationally from Russia. We haven't heard any talks from the birthfather's perspective yet; maybe we will in the future.

My Art

Spearmint Baby is a website with lots and lots of great ideas about decorating your home and nursery. Shari, the owner of the website, asked if she could include some of my art on her website, along with how-to directions:Spearmint Baby

Stop by and check it out!

Blogging Our Adoption Journey!

Our agency just started a blog called Adoption Threads. The blog is featuring news for waiting families and articles about ways that waiting families can network in their journey to adopt. Our caseworker had asked me a few weeks ago if I could write a short article about why I started blogging and about how it has been helpful as we moved from infertility procedures to adoption. I said yes right away! If you click on the link above, it will take you to what I wrote. You can also check out the rest of the blog. It can contains info such as agency news and updates, how the waiting can be difficult, and handling difficult days (such as holidays.) I think it's great that AAI created the blog. Everyone in the adoption process can use some extra support!

Jackpot!

Last night we attended a fundraiser called Bowling for Rhinos. It's a fundraiser that one of my sisters, Tracy, organized and the goal is to help send money to a rhino preserve in Africa. The whole evening is a lot of fun. You get to bowl plus they have a silent auction and a 50-50 raffle. We went with my parents, my other sister, Janice, and my cousins, Karen and Alicia. These are some of the pictures I took at the event:

This is my cousin, Karen, with Steve. I didn't get a picture of my other cousin who was there, Alicia. She was working the registration table.


My mom, getting ready to bowl


My dad, also getting ready to bowl


Dad, in action!


My sister, Janice, ready to take her turn


Steve had a pretty good score


I look like I kind of know what I'm doing, but I don't! (I still had fun!)


Another picture of Janice, wearing the t-shirt our friend, Kim, designed for the event


Steve and me hanging out


Luck was on our side last night...

The Tigers tickets Steve won from the Silent Auction


...and...

Me looking very happy at home -- I won the 50-50 raffle!!


We were both pretty excited about our wins! I was so excited to win the 50-50 because of course it's nice to have a little extra money (esp. money we weren't planning on having.) Everyone has been telling us that we should take a vacation, especially while we we're waiting to adopt. We had been talking about it and researching trips online earlier in the day and the extra money was going to really help.

We had tossed around the idea of a short trip to New Orleans or Orlando again. As we were trying to think of places where one of us or both of us had never been, the idea of going to Las Vegas came up. We spent a good part of the night (after bowling) looking for vacation packages online. We finally found one we were happy with around 1 am!

Earlier this week, one of my friends had asked me if I would think about getting away for a weekend with her. We have never done a girls' trip in all the years that I've known her. We are both in need of a vacation. So, now we can do our trip, and I can get away for a long weekend with my friend, Barb, as well. (I'm not sure where we're going to go, but I would be happy with anywhere! We could even do Las Vegas again because I'm sure the trip would be full of shopping, or a spa day or other things that I wouldn't have really done on the trip with Steve.)

Steve keeps saying, "Vegas, Baby!" He's so excited. I can't wait, either. It's so nice to have something like this to look forward to.

Two More Times

Our case worker emailed us yesterday with our June update: our profile was shown twice in April! That means that our profile has been shown 4 times since it went 'active' in December. We were told not to expect to be shown much (if at all) before we had been waiting for at least 6 months. The people who tend to be shown the most often are couples who have been waiting the longest. So it sounds like something in our profiles has matched what some expectant parents were looking for. We weren't chosen, but it's good to know we're being shown. We're close to 6 months waiting right now.