We're BACK!!!!!!!!

Guess what my friends?? We are officially back on the adoption waiting list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who are relatively new to this blog, Justin and I put our adoption on hold while we handled some personal things that had come up. We have worked VERY VERY VERY hard to get past everything, and we are back on track!! I cannot even tell you how happy I am to be back to this point. I feel whole again. This was one of the most difficult things that I have lived through thus far, but I feel like I have gained soooooo much from the whole experience.

I am a true believer in the fact that God will make things happen for everyone when he is ready and according to His plan. I know that He has a plan for us all. I am so happy that He has guided us back to our adoption of Miss Lucy!

I am seriously so excited about this! Life is good. To make things even better, I get to see most of my college best friends this weekend because I am going to the first Arkansas Razorback football game of the season. GO HOGS GO!!! I am from Arkansas - born and raised in Little Rock and went to school at the University of Arkasas. I LOVE ARKANSAS!!! I can't wait to see all of my friends. It could get rowdy.......

Prison Break

I actually have something quite exciting to report today. Yesterday, the show Prison Break was filming at my next door neighbors house!! I have never seen this show, but apparently they are filming this whole season in Dallas. It was so cool to see. There were about 10 guys in FBI uniforms carrying around enormous guns. They did a scene where 4 police/FBI cars would come racing up to the front of the house and skid into place and then all of the men with guns would pile out of the car and surround the house. It was so crazy. We watched for a couple of hours. It was quite the production. They were filming the 7th episode of the season and last night episode 2 was on.

You may be wondering, why were they shooting at my neighbors house? Apparently, one of the producers saw his house and said that his front porch looked very similar to one that they used in the first season, so they knocked on his door and asked if they could use his house. Isn't that crazy??!! I sure do wish that they would have needed my house!! We live directly next door. So, here are some pictures to show you the excitement:


Here are the FBI guys getting out of the car and surrounding the house


More FBI guys with huge scary guns


The director and the Prison Break director's chairs - you can see the back of the guy that yelled, "Rolling, Action!!"


The front porch where all of the action went down


All of the gear set up in the street - my street was closed down for the entire day. There was so much stuff and they packed it up and were out of there in about 2 seconds when they were done.



Some more of the crew and you can see the FBI actors in the background


Actor William Fichtner - he was in Invasion and Armagedon - he was so nice and was playing with one of our neighbor's baby.

So, that is my excitement for the moment. I thought is was pretty great to be so up close and get to see all of the action. I am going to have to start watching the show now.

I've Been Tagged

So, I am supposed to write 5 interesting things about myself. This is hard for me - I am pretty plain Jane.

1. I went to an all girls Catholic high school where our uniform was basically the exact one that Britney Spears is wearing in the Hit Me Baby One More Time video - of course, we didn't tie our shirts up exposing our stomachs. By the way, I loved high school.

2. I am a compulsive organizer. I LOVE organizing almost anything. The label maker is my best friend. I label everything. This is sick, but putting together our dossier was fun to me.

3. I LOVE holidays, with Christmas being at the very top of my list. Our house throws up Christmas and it puts me in a constant state of bliss. I start asking Justin if we can get our stuff out right after Halloween. Of course he doesn't let me, but if I start begging early enough, it is always up at least a week or two before Thanksgiving. Last year I asked so many times that he finally agreed to let me at least get it all out in the guest room and look at it, but not put it up - since it was November 1st. I finally convinced Justin that we need two Christmas trees. I LOVE IT and it is making me giddy right now. Here is some of our stuff:


Our mantle with Justin and I's stockings and of course Bruiser and Bianca have one as well.

Our living room tree - this is the BIG one!! It is only allowed to have red, white, and silver ornaments on it. As you can see, I have ruined most of our walls hanging everything I can find on the walls.


The kitchen - this tree is the FUN one - blue, green, purple, and gold. Sorry about the picture being blurry. I hate that.


Justin and I before our annual huge Christmas party.


Okay, I have gotten totally distracted from the tag, so I will get back on subject here.

4. I have 3 sisters and I am the second in line. They are all beautiful and wonderful!! I am so lucky to have them. I swear I have the best family. They love holidays almost as much as me.

5. I am completely addicted to reality TV. I know, this is sad, but I can't seem to get enough. In fact, the trashier, the better as far as I am concerned. Most MTV shows are at the top of my list. Some of my faves aren't trashy though - like Project Runway which is a GREAT show!! I was devastated when Meet the Barkers didn't make it!!!! This is a sad little pitiful life that I live.

*So there are my interesting facts. I tried to be as creative as possible, but as we all can see, it is not too interesting. Now, I do not at all appreciate the complete and total lack of comments on this blog lately. Let's step it up a notch ladies.

I hate that I have so little to say here lately. I had a really great time this past weekend. It was great to get some time with Justin. We are really making such great progress and I feel better every day. I have a feeling we are going to be back on the waiting list REALLY soon. No guarantees, but I think it will be soon.

My parents are coming to visit me this weekend and I am VERY excited about that. I miss them and it is always fun for them to come and see me. I need to clean the house though, which sucks. Oh well, company is always such a great motivator for getting the house in order.

I am getting my hair done this tonight. YEAH!! It has been way too long, but what can you do. I love to get my hair done. It always makes a girl feel good.

Other than that, the only other thing that I have to say is that I think that everyone should go and buy the new Pat Green Cannonball record today - it was released today and is WONDERFUL!!

Yee Haw!

I have a pretty funny weekend planned. It should be interesting. First of all, tonight I am going to the Athens, TX rodeo. I am not exactly a rodeo kind of gal, but I never seem to get tired of seeing the people that are at the rodeo. Always entertaining for the non-country girl. Don't worry, it gets better, tomorrow I am going to the Winstar casino in Oklahoma. Now, I LOVE to gamble!! However, I have recently learned that you actually have to pay the casino to play blackjack - $0.50 a hand. Does that seem unreasonable to anyone other than me?? Also, there is NO alcohol, which really goes hand in hand with gambling. Whatever. Not my ideal gambling setting. I am getting to spend time with Justin, so I should not complain. We will make the most of the weekend. I will try and get pictures to document all of this. By the way, it has been quite some time since I posted a picture. Not my best work.

I hope that all of you have lovely weekends! See you on Monday.....

Very Little to Report

Sorry I have been so quiet lately, but life around my house has been quite boring actually. The good news is this: Last week Justin said that he really feels confident that we will be back on the list and have our referral before our documents expire!!!! That was the first time that he has said anything like this since the meltdown. I feel really good about that!! We have been doing really well and I am just overall feeling a million times better for the past week or so. Everybody get the positive energy coming our way that we are back on the list VERY soon!

I have been reading a bunch of books lately about parenting techniques. I know that there are probably a bunch of you out there who practice attachment parenting. I am intrigued by it and would like to use some of it for our own children. Can any of you give me any advice on attachment parenting with an adopted child? How did it go? It seems like it would be a great approach for an adopted child - I will not be breastfeeding though, which is such an intregal part. Did your baby have a hard time getting used to the "baby wearing"? I would love feedback from those of you who use attachment parenting and how that has gone.

I can't seem to read enough about different theories and ideas about raising children, the way children learn, and attachment. Sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. We are first time parents - what is the best?? I know that we will just go with what comes naturally, but there is just so much that we can do that seems to really make a difference in the long run. I guess I just want to be as educated as I possibly can be about the different approaches to child raising. That, however, can be a daunting task. Luckily, I feel confident in my ability to be a mother - I am sure that will rapidly change when that baby is placed in my arms and I can't get her to stop crying, but for now, I am going to let myself feel confident.

For those of you out there travelling, waiting on documents, waiting for your agencies to get you much needed information, waiting for travel approval, and waiting for your referral, I pray for you every night.

Making Progress with the Cats

Okay, so I have found a local organization that is going to help us with the cats. They are a no-kill organization that work with feral cats and getting them fixed. Here is the plan, they are bringing me 4 traps and teaching me how to use them. We trap as many as possible and then the next moring, go and meet a shuttle at a local PetsMart. They take the cats, spay/neuter them, give them their rabies shot and then I have to meet the shuttle again later that night. Then, you let them stay in the trap overnight to heal as much as possible from the surgery. The next morning I will release them back into our alley. So, they never go away, which is fine. I don't mind them being there at all and don't mind feeding them. I see it that they kill rats and snakes. The idea is to stop the growth in their population. I am happy with the idea. There is no way that these cats would ever become domesticated, so they would not get adopted. Also, if we can catch the young kittens, they will work to adopt them out. Does this sound like a good plan? It does to me.

Homeless Kitties

I know that there are several of you out there who are avid animal lovers. I consider myself to be one as well and truly admire those of you who volunteer at your local animals shelters. You guys are awesome. I was hoping maybe some of you could give me some advice. In the alley behind our house, there are tons of stray cats. They keep getting pregnant and having more babies. There are always kittens around. My neighbors and I feed the cats. If we didn't feed them, I am not sure how they would eat. We would all love to catch them, but there are two problems with that. One, I don't know where to take them once we do catch one. I would keep them all, but Justin is deathly allergic to cats, so they can't live at my house. And second, they are very wild. They will not let you get close to them at all. I feel like the only way to catch them would be with some kind of trap, which I know nothing about. They let us get closer to them now than they did a month or so ago, but still no where near being able to touch them. I am totally in love with this one all black kitten. That is beside the point though. Last night, there were 12 cats and kittens eating at the same time. Three of the females are definitely pregnant. How can we stop this? I know many people say "don't feed the cats!" Well, that is easier said than done when you dearly love animals and there are 12 super skinny kitties meowing loudly. I don't want them to starve, but they have to stop having more babies. HELP!!

Live Journal

Okay, about this website. I joined it so that I could read some people's entries. I have 3 whole friends who have me as a friend as well. I want to say something about this site - I DO NOT LIKE IT! I feel like a complete idiot everytime that I am on it. I would like to be your friend though. I am kellylfred on there. I like to read what you all have to say, but I can't keep another online journal/blog, especially on a website that I have such difficulty getting around. Maybe some of you could help me. I can do the one and only thing that I am on there for - to read my friends entries, however, no one ever posts on there so what is the point? HELP!

Not much going on around here. Can't wait for the weekend.