i am not as embarrassed as i seem... i am really just that immature. i can't get through it.
vagloggering take two
i am not as embarrassed as i seem... i am really just that immature. i can't get through it.
i am not as embarrassed as i seem... i am really just that immature. i can't get through it.
video chatbloggervid - take one. epic fail.
this explains why i opted against the videoblogging efforts. well.... that, and my lazy eye problem. (don't look for it, please.)
harper drops some sick beats.
he is four. i mean....
london: before & after blood transfusion
i came across this picture the other day when i was starting to put pictures together for the next adoption profile. i could. not. believe. how different london looked when she was sick. looking back at pictures when she had transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC), it is so obvious how sick (and even sad) she was.
after discovering this picture... i am praising the lord all over again for her improvement. i have never been more thankful to live in a country where a blood transfusion is a relatively easy and common procedure. it blows my mind that human blood is accessible to all people at any time in our country. we are a rich people.
see for yourself what a dramatic difference a few, life-saving blood transfusions can make...
london before
london healthy
after discovering this picture... i am praising the lord all over again for her improvement. i have never been more thankful to live in a country where a blood transfusion is a relatively easy and common procedure. it blows my mind that human blood is accessible to all people at any time in our country. we are a rich people.
see for yourself what a dramatic difference a few, life-saving blood transfusions can make...
london before
london healthy
for the sake of awareness, here is a little info on transient erythroblastopenia of childhood. it does not mention this, but TEC also seemed to be responsible the complete stoppage of london's growth. while her development stayed remarkably ahead schedule, her height and weight completely dropped off for several months. as you can see... she has more than made up for lost time, and has begun to look like something of a chubby cherub.
A bird in a bin.
Rookie mistake.
how much love can you squoosh in one square foot?
we knew that there was some trouble with the roof, because that was what caused the last buyer to bail out. the sad truth is that we may have to walk away from this house because somebody put cedar shakes under the shingles, and that means the whole roof will need to be torn off. i am looking into finding the guy that invented cedar shakes, and having him apologize to thousands of homeowners, publicly. i am sure he will come and personally tear off every last bit of cedar from my roof, and will replace it with something very energy-efficient, and cutting edge, so that it is both maintenance-free and will never need replacing. while he is at it, i am pretty sure he will offer to finish the basement. and peel the wallpaper. in the slim, outside chance that mr. miracle-cedar-remover-man does NOT show up, we will need to make some pretty hard decisions.
as i was walking through the house today, i could not help but imagine the kids running through the house. i was picturing where we would eat, and play, and hang our stockings. i couldn't help but move in, emotionally. i know that you are not supposed to do that when you are looking at a house. but, it seems like if you can't NOT do that... then maybe you have found the house.
in other family news, we have recently learned that between fundraising, saving, and the generous gifts of others... we have officially raised enough money to move forward with the adoption. we will submit our family profile and complete the home assessment as soon as we are certain as to which home our mistry baby will be brought!
if we aren't able to afford this particular house (of my dreams), then we will wait on the Lord that provides more than i could dream up on my own. the day that we get to bring our last baby home is drawing closer, and that fact is much more significant than to which building he or she will come. it is a good reminder that no matter what house we end up in, we will pack every square foot of it with all sorts of love and babies.
and if the Lord wills it, every square foot will also be recently refinished hardwood.
making up us even harder...
in my most recent post, i wrote about the striking comparison between finding (and losing) a great house to finding (and losing) a great guy. i lamented over our recent "break up" in which our offer on a house was not accepted because mommy and daddy warbucks came in with a non-contingent offer. i was seriously devastated because i felt so sure that this was the right house for us.
i shamefully admit that i threw a pretty decent pity-party, and have slowly tried to recover. however, despite all my efforts... i could not move on. everyone kept telling me that "it just must not be the house for us." i pouted and told them "buuuuut, yes it definitely was."
after praying for a miraculous intervention from the God who knows all things before the engineer's inspection... the original warbucks deal fell through. apparently the roof needs work, and since the fickle buyer was not truly devoted and committed to choosing love, even in the hard times, they backed out. the house is now back on the market. and i am back in the full swing of being in l-o-v-e.
tom, on the contrary, is back to having chest pains over the decision.
yet, in the midst of the major-decision-anxiety, even tom feels that this is supposed to be our house.
sooooooooo... we are in the "make-up" phase of our relationship with this house. we are re-approaching the relationship with a little more caution this time, taking time to evaluate where we both went wrong. we are trying to start fresh, letting our past be in the past. i am just trying to keep my mind clear of the ugly reality that another woman walked through that house and planned where she would hang her pictures. tom is foreseeing every possible expense and is overcompensating by re-brewing coffee grounds to eek out one extra weak cup.
we can't exactly say where this relationship is going to go... but, if i have my way, we'll be wed and living together by november. i don't want to rush it, but mama ain't losin' a good man twice.
i shamefully admit that i threw a pretty decent pity-party, and have slowly tried to recover. however, despite all my efforts... i could not move on. everyone kept telling me that "it just must not be the house for us." i pouted and told them "buuuuut, yes it definitely was."
after praying for a miraculous intervention from the God who knows all things before the engineer's inspection... the original warbucks deal fell through. apparently the roof needs work, and since the fickle buyer was not truly devoted and committed to choosing love, even in the hard times, they backed out. the house is now back on the market. and i am back in the full swing of being in l-o-v-e.
tom, on the contrary, is back to having chest pains over the decision.
yet, in the midst of the major-decision-anxiety, even tom feels that this is supposed to be our house.
sooooooooo... we are in the "make-up" phase of our relationship with this house. we are re-approaching the relationship with a little more caution this time, taking time to evaluate where we both went wrong. we are trying to start fresh, letting our past be in the past. i am just trying to keep my mind clear of the ugly reality that another woman walked through that house and planned where she would hang her pictures. tom is foreseeing every possible expense and is overcompensating by re-brewing coffee grounds to eek out one extra weak cup.
we can't exactly say where this relationship is going to go... but, if i have my way, we'll be wed and living together by november. i don't want to rush it, but mama ain't losin' a good man twice.
breaking up is hard to do.
i don't think i have ever really gotten dumped. until now.
i can't say for sure, but i am pretty sure that this is how it feels to get good and dumped. ya see, we put in an offer on a beautiful home that really seemed like it was the best possible home for us. this house was just like the perfect guy: sensible, stable, good-looking, (without trying to impress anyone), met all my earthly needs, had a lot of character, and even a little bit of a sense of humor, humble from the outside, but was really something special on the inside... where it counts. oh, and like all perfect guys, he had a walk-in butler's pantry.
in fairness, i know it isn't exactly the same as a breakup with an actual human... but, all the major factors are the same. it all started out like young love. there was the awkward anticipation of the introduction, trying to get to know the house while everyone is watching and wondering if we'll hit it off. there's that feeling of being totally head over heels, but trying to play it cool, knowing you need to take things slow, and really try to see things realistically. all to no avail, because there simply are no flaws!
then, it starts to unravel.
i want to make a commitment, but my facebook status indicates that i am already a relationship with another house, or worse yet... that "it's complicated" because i need to sell by owner so i don't lose all my equity. all of this is just too much for the dream-guy-house, because he's totally ready to settle down, and he's a real catch, and he knows what he is looking for and if you don't snatch him up... some other unattached babe is gonna snag 'em with an offer that isn't contingent on breaking up with her other house first.
and this leads to the ultimate demise. suddenly there i am, making these empty promises that i swear i'll break it off with this other house, that this other house means nothing to me... that the house i currently own was just there for me when i needed a place to stay... it isn't love! i just need a little time to let that house down gently! please, i just need a little time!
i am acting a desperate fool, and he just moves on like our time together meant nothing to him.
in keeping with the common denominators of a heart wrenching breakup: i cried for an embarrassingly disproportionate amount of time, i had trouble sleeping, woke up clinically depressed and without any desire to eat or hope for any future happiness. i emailed his buddies (aka the realtor) and asked to convince him to give me another chance. (sorry tom, that is actually true.) i (impressively) was able to change every subject of conversation back to the house, i spent most of the day looking at pictures of the house online, then went to the "post office" which is PATHETIC for "i drove past the house just to see if the house was home." i have pouted like a betrayed dumpee, and spent every spare second looking online for a house to rebound with. i just want to hurt him the way he hurt me. i want him to realize what he is missing. and when he sees me pull my U-haul down a DOUBLE-wide driveway, he will look at his puny single-wide and wish that he never let me slip through his beautiful pocket-doors.
with leaded glass.
so, as it stands, my current status is "brokenhearted. for-sale. by owner." (spoken in an Eeyore-voice) but, in my heart... i am "single, lookin' to mingle." thoug, deep down, my heart really belongs to that handsome stranger that is in the arms of some floozy who came out of the shadows with all her money and her freedom and her move-in-with-a-quickness. there is no way she loves him like i do, there is just no way.
i can't say for sure, but i am pretty sure that this is how it feels to get good and dumped. ya see, we put in an offer on a beautiful home that really seemed like it was the best possible home for us. this house was just like the perfect guy: sensible, stable, good-looking, (without trying to impress anyone), met all my earthly needs, had a lot of character, and even a little bit of a sense of humor, humble from the outside, but was really something special on the inside... where it counts. oh, and like all perfect guys, he had a walk-in butler's pantry.
in fairness, i know it isn't exactly the same as a breakup with an actual human... but, all the major factors are the same. it all started out like young love. there was the awkward anticipation of the introduction, trying to get to know the house while everyone is watching and wondering if we'll hit it off. there's that feeling of being totally head over heels, but trying to play it cool, knowing you need to take things slow, and really try to see things realistically. all to no avail, because there simply are no flaws!
then, it starts to unravel.
i want to make a commitment, but my facebook status indicates that i am already a relationship with another house, or worse yet... that "it's complicated" because i need to sell by owner so i don't lose all my equity. all of this is just too much for the dream-guy-house, because he's totally ready to settle down, and he's a real catch, and he knows what he is looking for and if you don't snatch him up... some other unattached babe is gonna snag 'em with an offer that isn't contingent on breaking up with her other house first.
and this leads to the ultimate demise. suddenly there i am, making these empty promises that i swear i'll break it off with this other house, that this other house means nothing to me... that the house i currently own was just there for me when i needed a place to stay... it isn't love! i just need a little time to let that house down gently! please, i just need a little time!
i am acting a desperate fool, and he just moves on like our time together meant nothing to him.
in keeping with the common denominators of a heart wrenching breakup: i cried for an embarrassingly disproportionate amount of time, i had trouble sleeping, woke up clinically depressed and without any desire to eat or hope for any future happiness. i emailed his buddies (aka the realtor) and asked to convince him to give me another chance. (sorry tom, that is actually true.) i (impressively) was able to change every subject of conversation back to the house, i spent most of the day looking at pictures of the house online, then went to the "post office" which is PATHETIC for "i drove past the house just to see if the house was home." i have pouted like a betrayed dumpee, and spent every spare second looking online for a house to rebound with. i just want to hurt him the way he hurt me. i want him to realize what he is missing. and when he sees me pull my U-haul down a DOUBLE-wide driveway, he will look at his puny single-wide and wish that he never let me slip through his beautiful pocket-doors.
with leaded glass.
so, as it stands, my current status is "brokenhearted. for-sale. by owner." (spoken in an Eeyore-voice) but, in my heart... i am "single, lookin' to mingle." thoug, deep down, my heart really belongs to that handsome stranger that is in the arms of some floozy who came out of the shadows with all her money and her freedom and her move-in-with-a-quickness. there is no way she loves him like i do, there is just no way.
Sweet.
