Randomness

I have started about 5 different posts in the past 2 days, but haven't been able to finish them. Why? SLEEP DEPRIVATION. In the middle of last week, I was struck with insomnia—ugh! That lasted for a couple of nights… Then on Friday night, I was up all night with a really bad UTI, which means that I then spent Saturday morning at an urgent care center so that I wouldn't be miserable for the whole weekend. I napped a little on Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night wasn't too bad, but I didn't sleep again last night. I say all of that not to complain—honestly—but just to explain why my sentences may not make sense, and why I am not able to create a single coherent post. I apologize in advance.

Here are a few things I wanted to share:

• I have been given the opportunity to speak at a few upcoming events, and I am so excited! I will be basing my talks on my adoption story, partly talking about adoption and my story, and partly focusing on identity and who we are in Christ. I will share more as things get firmed up, etc. And if you or someone you know is looking for a speaker, I would be honored if you thought of me. J
  


• I am trying to plan Grace's party for her upcoming FOURTH BIRTHDAY. This has led me to seriously ponder two big questions: 1-How did my baby get to be four years old already? And 2-How is it possible that she has more friends than I do?
  


• Last week Jon brought home one of those big letter/number foam floor puzzles for the kids, and they LOVE it! Here is one of my favorite snapshots of them right after we put it together:
  


• This week is absolutely NUTS NUTS NUTS for me, so please bear with me if I don't post much. After Saturday, my life will be MUCH calmer. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
  


• I am working on a great study about knowing God better, so I want to leave you with the words of Simon Peter:
  "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." (1 Peter 1:2-3, emphasis mine) Please remember, God's grace and peace become ours as we grow in our knowledge of Him. May you seek to know Him better today.
  

Have a blessed week.

Post-Vacation Randomness

Greetings! We are officially home from vacation and ready to start 2009. :-) I have a few hours of free time, which I plan to spend e-mailing, reading (more on that later), and blogging, so you should have more to read in the near future. But for today I just wanted to give you all a few updates on the things that are spinning around in my head.

• First, "spinning" was not a random word choice--my head is quite literally spinning these days. I just started on a new perscription, and it is making me VERY dizzy. My doctor assures me that it will only last a few days. For now, though, it's kinda like being tipsy and sober at the same time--not entirely without merit. ;-)
• Our trip was wonderful! The four of us went, along with my mother-in-law and her best friend, and two other of our employees. We actually went on a cruise that left out of Miami and then made 3 stops in the Bahamas. The weather was wonderful, the ship was very nice, and we had a great time all around. I was thankful to have a port of call every day, because the time that we were trying to keep the kids occupied on the ship was a little bit stressful. This was mainly because it was an older ship (The newer ones have all kinds of cool stuff for kids, even little ones like ours), so it wouldn't prevent me from taking them in the future.
• The absolute highlight of the trip for me (and for Jon) was taking Grace dancing. Our room and his mom's room were adjoining, so at night we would put the kids to bed and then go to her room (with a monitor)--and most nights she came back for the night before 9PM and stayed there with the kids while we went out. (It was awesome!) Anyway, one night we decided to put Matt to bed and then let Grace stay up with us. We took her to see a live band, and she had a BLAST dancing the night away. It was without a doubt one of the cutest things I have ever seen.
• I would love to be able to share more of our trip with you all... but I have no photographic evidence of our vacation. No, I did not suddenly lost interest in photos and scrapbooking--I actually took TONS of photos. But they did not make it home with me. My camera disappeared on our last day of the trip. I have shed many tears over my lost photos. I am not totally giving up--I plan to call the cruise line today to see if it happened to turn up.
• We came home from our trip to the news that my uncle--my dad's brother--had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. He and my aunt live in California, but they had just been home to visit shortly before Christmas, and we had them over for brunch one morning. This was completely out of the blue for everyone. Please keep his wife and family (two grown children and two grandchildren) in your prayers.
• I have a new guilty pleasure: the Twilight series. Jon got me the first book for Christmas, and I read it in 2 days on our trip! I thought I was going to lose my mind when I couldn't get the next book on the ship or in port--in fact, I just picked it up at Target today. And I'm already over 50 pages into it.
• If you are one of the many people I have been neglecting for the past several weeks or months... I'm sorry. Please bear with me. In addition to the actual crazy schedule/circumstances that we've had, my emotions have also been overloaded. This has actually been going on for about 2 years now (since Matt was born), but it had started to get worse again in the past few months. I am finally getting help, so I promise to be a better friend and person now. :-)
• I have resolved that 2009 will not be as crazy busy as 2008, but so far that's not working out so well for me. I think that every weekend in January and February are already jammed!
• I am taking some steps to actually make some money this year. I am writing this here not so much because you all care if I am making money or not, but because writing it down makes me accountable--more likely to actually follow through!

OK, I am starting to bore myself here, so if you are still with me, treat yourself to a piece of chocolate! :-) I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

Update--more to follow

Hello, blog friends. I'm sorry I've been incommunicado--the kids and I are enjoying a wonderful vacation in southern California. And while I blogged quite a bit during my trip to Texas, this one has been different because, well, my kids are with me. That doesn't make for lots of quiet, introspective time! As an added obstacle, I've had limited Internet access... And let me tell you, I have new respect for the saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." It's been a tough 10 days for me and my significant other--that is, my laptop. But we only have to make it to tomorrow night, when we'll be back in the comfort of our own home with our wireless Internet access.


Seriously, we are having an absolutely FABULOUS time. We are also very much looking forward to getting home to see Daddy, who wasn't able to join us on this trip. (It's a long story.) The highlight of our trip was a day spent in Disneyland--it was wonderful! I have over 200 pictures of that ONE DAY. Out. of. control.


Here are my favorites:





Jon couldn't make it on this trip, but I'm not corralling the kids alone--his mom is here with us! In fact, we are really here with her, not the other way around. She is a wonderful woman, and we're having a great time being here together.



What would a trip to Disneyland be without getting to meet Mickey Mouse??? Matt is absolutely ENTHRALLED with the Mouse--or "Mou", as he calls him. (That's "mouse" without the "s", if you're not fluent in toddler-ese.)


And the absolute highlight of the day: Meeting Cinderella!!! I really wish I had captured the look in Grace's eyes when she FIRST saw the Princess. I almost cried--she was just so beside herself. The entire trip would have been worthwhile just for that moment.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and let you know that I am alive and well. I actually do have a couple of chapters of "Katy's Family Forest" ready to go, so I will try to get one of those up later today. In the meantime, I'm off to Legoland! Talk to you all soon.

What IS normal, anyway?

Good morning, Internet Buddies! :-) I hope you are all having a great week. I am finally emerging from the fog after a whirlwind weekend.

The conference was absolutely fantastic, and I am so grateful that God chose to make me a part of it. Our speakers were wonderful, the worship was great, the vendor fair was the perfect addition, and the women there were awesome. It was such a huge blessing to see it all come together!

This afternoon I will upload the pictures off of my camera, and I will post some on here for you all.

I promise to be around more, and I look forward to reconnecting with you all! I'll talk to you soon!