Showered with Love

We celebrated ELLE on Sunday afternoon with a girly girls shower. It was the first time I have ever thrown a party and felt great at the end! I think it was because I had so much help. Everyone pitched in to make this a fabulous event! Much thanks especially to Laurie with all of her ideas and efforts to keep me on track. Above is Mindy and Wynter opening gifts. Below is the table spread. Isn't that delightful? I loved how Laurie decorated with limes... very clever and cost efficient too!

Here is Marcie's legendary champagen punch. She and her mom Linda just came on in and set up shop like they are pros at throwing a great get together (which that is actually true, Linda's been throwing tea parties since I was 5)! Wynter came up with a brilliant idea to flavor the water with limes and lemons. And it is sooo pretty!! Great thinking Wynter!

Here is my beautiful Granny who looked as elegant as ever on this occasion! This is who Ellyn ("Elle") Claire will be named after. My grandmother has been a role model of patience, optimism and maternal love for as many years as I have known her (and more!). All the women in my family strive to be like her. I love you Granny!

Mother Nature is fall's fairy

Today, our neighbor, Mother Nature, handed Georgia several beautiful gifts (see above). This woman's garden amazes and inspires me. There is always something lovely in bloom. She first gave Gigi a melon colored azalea blossom (from her come again azaleas, apparently they bloom repeatedly, I'm going to have to get me some of these). Then she handed Gigi two gorgeous jewel-toned leaves from her pin oaks. Next she handed Gigi those little yellow flowers, I don't know what they are called. She then took us to her backyard and showed us what she has growing in her garage. Lime trees!!!!! She over-winters them in the garage and presently has limes growing on them. She handed me the lime. Its scent was citrusy and oh so fresh! Finally, as we were leaving she plucked that pink rose and handed it to Georgia, whose hands were too full and I carried it home. What a wonderful way to show love! With blooms from your garden. Thank you Mother Nature!
P.S. The lavender leaf is from my own garden. I just threw it in there because I'm so proud that my lavender actually grew this year!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween 2008!

Happy Halloween! Georgia is going to be Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street today. Here is a photo of her out in our backyard this morning. Wally will be a pirate. If I get a good shot of him I'll add it to the blog as well!

Okay here is Wally's best shot. He doesn't look too happy because he wasn't. However, once he realized that wearing that costume got him a ticket out of the house and on a walk through the neighborhood he perked up quite a bit. Later that evening Rodolfo and I went to a party where we dressed up as Ceasar (Rodolfo) and a flapper (me). My mom has some of those pictures, I'll see if I can snag a few.

Clean, Friendly Grocery Shopping

Today I took the path less traveled. I ventured to one of the few surviving local, non-chain grocery stores here in OKC, the Crescent Market. I had just finished my workout and was tired. I didn't feel like making the long trek out to Super Target, my weekly haunt. So, in the spirit of a pioneer, I forged new territory (although this place has been around for over 100 years). I have to say, although this place can't hold a candle to Central Market, it was an experience well, well worth the over-priced produce. The atmosphere was calm, the butchers wore clean, crisp white jackets and talked to me politely and intelligently about their meats. There were no blazing marketing ads / schemes hovering above my head and around the corner. It was comfortable, calm shopping. After checking out someone was waiting with my groceries already packed up, ready to walk me to the car. I felt spoiled! When was the last time I went to a grocery store where someone sacked and carried my food? Hmmm... maybe the early 80s when I would go to Homeland with my mom. As I was walked to the car we politely conversed about the weather. He loaded my groceries, and I climbed in the car happy as a lark. When I looked at the clock I was surprised to see that I had finished my shopping in record time--30 minutes!! I wish every shopping trip could be so comfortable and efficient. I doubt I will be able to shop there every week, but I may make more trips that direction. I wonder how long a place like that will continue to survive? Oklahoma City desperately needs better grocery store options. The food here is stuck in the 70s or possibly earlier. I've heard rumors that a Whole Foods is coming this way, but I don't want to get my hopes up. I'm also looking into becoming connected with a local farming co-op. Becoming a "locavore" seems very appealing. I've also got plans underway to begin a gigantic garden of my own. I may even buy a goat for fresh milk. Apparently you can purchase a miniture one for as little as $100, but I don't know if they produce milk...

What a month!

Me and Georgia at the pumpkin patch! It was such a beautiful day. Really, sometimes the Oklahoma countryside reminds me of Provence. On this day I completely felt as if I was on a farm in France.

Here are (from left) some of our church buddies-- Abby, Lily, Carter & Gigi.

Gigi was fascinated with the pony, but she was scared riding on his back.

I just liked this photo of the lamb. Isn't he giving me a cute expression? It is like he is saying "hi , glad to see you."

Oink, oink, oink, oink. This is Georgia's first encounter with a pig.

Me and Rodolfo at the 12 x 12 auction here in OKC. We had a night on the town and had a lot of fun!

Georgia has taken to putting on my shoes and Rodolfo's too. Here she is in my rain boots. They are a little big for her shorty legs.

Here we are visiting Mindy down in Dallas this weekend. Mindy is at 32 weeks in this photo. Only 8 weeks more and we get to see Elle!!!!!

Here my rebel 2 year old decided to do a little bathroom artwork. I wondered why she was so quiet, and discovered that she had been painting with toothpaste. Aye!

Last but not least, here are me, Allison, Amy & Jenny all dressed up in our 80s garb ready to boogie at the NKOTB reunion concert (please disregard my sandals, I didn't pack any comfortable shoes and had to make due with what I brought)!!! We had so much fun. I can't believe its been almost 20 years since we last went to see those boys in concert. My oh my how time flies!

Puppy Love

I snapped these today on our afternoon walk. They were just too cute to keep from posting.

Adoption process

Isn't that a pretty rose? It is from my garden. I'm not ready for summer to be over and I imagine that I might have one last flush of roses before the winter really sets in. We have been having some windy weather lately and I guess it is pushing out the heat and moving in the cool. Last year at this time Rodolfo's mom and grandmother were here. I remember our evenings in the "green room", chatting quietly so not as to wake Georgia and drinking tea. We reminisced about days gone by, laughed about all sorts of funny things and fretted over Rodolfo's job. It was nice having them here.

Lately we have been busy applying for our adoption. We are going to go through Deaconess Hospital. Lengthy is the perfect word for the process. First you apply to the agency. Once approved you begin a 6 week home study. In February we will attend a 11.5 hour training class that teaches us about adoption and prepares us for the event. We must then submit a "life book", like a scrapbook, that gives a glimpse of our family. People put in wedding pictures, travel pictures, graduation pictures and family photos. I'm going to create mine on blurb.com. Once all this happens, then our profile is posted online and in the agency office for interested birth mothers to peruse. Once selected by a birthmother, depending how open she wants the adoption to be, we will meet with her so that she can make sure we are the type of people she feels comfortable adopting her child to. If she approves of us, then we wait for the baby to arrive. Many times the adoptive family gets to be present at the hospital when the baby is born. After the necessary stay, we can then take the baby home from the hospital. There is a trial period where the birthmother still has a chance to change her mind. I think it is about 2 weeks. If no changes happen, then the baby will legally be ours. At least that is how I understand it. We prayed with our pastor yesterday about this entire process and I left feeling very good and a little humbled. It is really remarkable to watch God work and to be a part of His greater plan. A year ago I was planning when I would have my next child. Now I realize how little control I have. I also realize more profoundly than ever how each child is a blessing. We pray for this little one, this blessing, that God will lead us to him/her and that he/she will have a safe and healthy journey to our home.

Mindy's Momma Mambo

This past weekend mom and I made a trip down to Dallas for Mindy's first baby shower. It was so much fun seeing Minds and Rebecca Suey. Mindy made us a delicious dinner Friday night. While cleaning up afterwards she decided to do a little Momma Mambo that was well worth documenting. I'm trying to upload it to youtube. Here is a link to the youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFNf5GmKE9s. Elle-- this one's for you!!!!

Dallying in Denver

Georgia landing a big one on Kiev. She also did this to Truman on this trip. She loves to love!

Me, Shelley, Truman & Gigi at the Denver zoo. I miss my good friend Shelley!

Here we are at the hotel restaraunt eating breakfast. For some unknown-to-us reason, the waiters kept apologizing every morning and comped every single breakfast we ate even though we insisted on paying. It was probably good this happened because I had a voracious appetite each morning and ordered a whole heck of a lot of food.

Uncle Butch, Aunt Brenda, Kendal (she is so tall and beautiful! I can't believe she has grown so quickly), me & Gigi

Georgia is not growling here, she is actually saying "cheese".

The cousins playing in Uncle Butch's back yard. They are growing pumpkins out there. Isn't that cool? You can see the pumpkin patch a little better in the photo below. This photo is also a great action shot of Trent! He is becoming quite the sportsman from what I understand having scored 2 points in his first basketball game! Go Trent!

Whew! What a crazy last 5 days. Rodolfo had an SPE conference in Denver that Georgia and I joined him on. I don't know under what illusion I was when I made the decision to go along with him. Traveling and staying in a hotel can transform the most angelic toddler into a hairy monster! Not to taint the image of my darling that I love so much, but here is a brief summary of her transformation. We had a nightly/daily scream-a-thon before bed/naptime, the falling off the bed episode, the repeated flushing the toilet syndrome, the introduction of the phrase NO WAY!!!, the lets throw our sippy cup across the airport waiting room and see how far it will fly as I drop to the ground kicking and howling episode, the I refuse to sit in my airplane seat episode which resulted in hugging the adjacent stranger's leg and holding on for dear life so that mommy could not pry me off episode, and finally, the grand-finale, the pilot of the plane getting on the intercom and reminding the entire plane that all passengers must sit in their assigned seats, even two-year olds episode. These are the low-lights of the trip. The highlights were much, much, better. We saw my Uncle Butch, Aunt Brenda and cousins Kendal & Trent, we hung out with Jehan and Kiev and we also saw my roomate from college, Shelley and her husband Jason and son Truman. Georgia did enjoy kissing as many babies as she could, as you can tell from the photographs. She even started kissing a little 3 year old girl who was standing by her as she looked at the apes at the Denver zoo. Actually, Denver was quite a beautiful city. The parks are amazing-- hello Washington Park! The people are sporty and warmly casual, and health seems to be a top priority of the masses. The area of Denver we visited most had lots of pedestrians, which both Rodolfo and I love! We've often talked about longing to live in a pedestrian city. The weather was gorgeous and the shopping great! Georgia and I visited Congress Park twice and really enjoyed the swings and the playground. I wonder what it is like there during the winter months? Oh, and the old mansions and cottages were so spectacularly picturesque I find myself asking, is there a home in there for me?

Indian Summer

The weather here smells and feels like perfection. Accordingly, we are living every moment we can outside-- we eat, sit, talk, walk and play outside all day. If only we could nap out there too, then it would heaven! The hurricane down in Texas is what brought this wave of pleasant weather to Oklahoma. It has been in the low 80s during the day and the 50-60s at night. Isn't that the weather California gets all year long? Maybe I should move to the Golden State. There has hardly been any wind. My roses are in full bloom. My crepe myrtles are standing at floriferious attention. It really is lovely here.

Seaside Photos

Well, these photos have finally arrived! The colors at Seaside were so much prettier than what emerged in these photographs. Next time we go I'm taking a really good camera and shooting them myself. Still, I thought I'd post the best from this session. Ah! Makes me want to go back to the beach already.

Dirty Diaper Debacle

Yesterday Wally Waldorferiferous Astoria Molina snatched a dirty diaper from the diaper pail. He got away with his escapade until the evidence (and the smell) gave him away. So, we had to give him a good ol' bath afterwards. There was a lot of mayhem between the moment I found that half-eaten dirty diaper and the moment we caught Wally. This is how it went: I discovered the dirty diaper mess, rounded up Wally's wearabouts and chased him down the stairs to put him outside at which point Rodolfo arrived home from work and wondered what the smell was. Gigi was too excited about the whole affair and was chasing us all around wearing a hat I had not seen her wear in ages. I guess she pulled it out while I was hunting down Wally. She proceeded to wear the hat throughout Wally's washing and even into dinner. It was quite funny to me because she looked so perfectly nymphish and really it quite complimented the whole Wally debacle. While Rodolfo administered the bath I pulled out my camera and snapped away. Isn't she a doll?

Steep learning curves

There are moments in my life where the learning curve is steep. Right now is one of those moments. Making decisions about how to grow our family has opened my eye to the myriad of moral and ethical questions involved with in vitro. I thought it was a simple procedure of implanting fertilized eggs into the uterus, but then as I dug deeper into the process the whole idea of embryo selection, freezing the remaining embryos and then the question of what to do with the embryos that you no longer need/want really struck the wrong chord with my pro-life views. There is a wonderful article on the Vatican website that spells out the important questions a Christian must ask of herself when looking into this process. The link to this article is: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pont-acd_life_doc_20040316_x-gen-assembly-final_en.html . It is not light reading, but if you have 30 minutes, and you want to puruse the topic, it is an eye-opening read.

That being said, my interest in adoption has now been piqued even further. Did you know that you can adopt a child domestically by private means (simply an arrangement between two lawyers), through an agency or through a government program called "foster to adopt"? I had no idea. Then, if you are interested in international adoptions you must know the rules and current political status of adoption in the specific country in which you are interested. For example, right now U.S. citizens cannot adopt from Guatemala until some kind of Hague decision is made. China has curbed its adoptions because it wanted to look good for the Olympics (although they say it is because domestic interest in adoption is on the rise), adoptions from Russia and Eastern Europe are weighted down by the same issues present in U.S. domestic adoptions-- alcohol & drugs. Other countries like Korea and the Phillippines don't have these issues, the children for adoption from these countries are available because of poverty/abandonment. What madness and sadness there is in the world! But the beautiful thing about adoption is that it brings good-- family, provision, hope-- to situations that would otherwise be tragic. And the good comes to both those doing the adopting and those who are adopted.

So then, in vitro, though it does provide one with a child, also ultimately eliminiates many of the 5-20 lives it starts. It brings evil (death, indefinite frozen state, and at the worst, stem-cell research) to a good (life). But adoption, on the other hand, brings good (family, love, shelter, protection, education) to those children who need it most. What are your thoughts on in vitro? Have you ever explored the topic? I would be interested in hearing what others think about it as well.

Sweet Dreams

Gigi loves her sunglasses so much she always wears them in the car! She fell asleep the other day with them on and I had to take a picture. What a silly sweet girl!