Fin's adventure today

This is the message Fin (our dog, in case you don't remember) would like me to send out to the world on his behalf today:

Dear manhood,

RIP. You kept getting me into trouble anyway.

Sincerely,

Fin

I'm not sure if he's as excited as Sam and I are excited for him to be neutered, but he hasn't said otherwise so I have to assume he's thrilled. Congrats, Fin, on no longer being a menace to society!

Another post on adoption

Using my quasi-stalking post as a jumping off point, I was going through my Google Reader some few minutes or so ago and read the most recent post of a birth mom I blog stalk. Maybe I'll comment on one of her posts sometime so I'll go from stalking to following.

Anyway.

In her most recent post, she referred to the post of a friend of hers, who referred to a post from September 2008 on the Families Supporting Adoption: American Fork blog. Apparently Glenn Beck and his wife, Tania, were the keynote speakers a the 2008 FSA conference, and the post is the transcript of their talks. [Speeches? Addresses? What should I be calling it? I just don't know.]

So anyway, whether you love Glenn Beck or hate him [I, personally, am rather indifferent], you should read the story he and his wife shared. It is so beautiful. I was very touched. These were the parts that were particularly meaningful to me:

"The great thing about the Lord is, He’s predictable. I mean, all you have to do is read the scriptures and it’s the same story over and over again. . . . Before blessings, before real blessings, the Lord just pounds you into the ground. . . . He takes you and puts you out in the desert, and He just pounds you into the ground. . . . And in that trial, you can be saying one of two things: “Water, water! Help me! Why me? Why me? Help me, help me! Water!” Or you can be saying, “What is it You want me to do? I will do, I will give. I give! Just point me there. The water may be a long way away, but just show me, Lord, which way to walk.” And when you get there, eventually He’ll give you the answer, and then He will so richly bless your life."

and:

"I know with everything in me that our children selected us in the premortal existence. I know that we stood around and we were honored when that soul looked at us and said, 'I want you as my dad, and I want you as my mom. Somehow or another we’ll find each other.' It’s not just getting any child. It’s sometimes waiting for that soul who is trying desperately to fulfill their side of the bargain and to fulfill what you guys set out to do in the first place and to be reunited with his family for time and all eternity. But getting there sometimes, you have to walk through the desert. But once you get out of the desert, water has never tasted sweeter."

and about his son's birth mom:

"This little girl was a hero. She was a remarkable superhero. Raphe doesn’t need Spiderman or Superman; he’s got his natural mother as an example of what real superheroes do. Real superheroes don’t think about themselves. Real superheroes don’t make their life all about them. Real superheroes do the hard thing, and I can’t imagine anything tougher than giving birth to a child and giving that child away and then wondering your whole life what’s happening in his day." 

I love his words and how he told his story and expressed his feelings on adoption. I hope you guys have the chance to read the entire transcript, because it is really touching.

Something else that really touched me today was this:

 

One of the things that touched me so much was how many countries were celebrating this temple. Sam and I have been so blessed here in Utah to have a church just down the street and a temple 10 minutes away. It makes me shiver [in an excited, thrilled kind of way] to think that in just a few months we could be in an area like this--where the church is so small and temples are so rare. I just think of the incredible work we have ahead of us, and all the things Heavenly Father has ready for us on our path, and I can barely stand waiting. I'm so beyond excited.

xoxo

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.

This morning

Anyone ever had half-awake adventures/scares? I did this morning. And I think it's pretty funny, so I'm going to share it.

So this morning, somewhere around 3:00, I sort of half woke up. This was, I thought, due to Sam getting up to go to the bathroom. [This in itself should have tipped me off; I never wake up during the night unless there's a deafening fire alarm going off, and even that can take a while.] A minute or two later [or so it seemed] I thought I heard him cry out, like he'd hurt himself or something.

I was a little worried, so I contemplated getting up and seeing if he was ok. Before I could make up my mind if my love of and concern for Sam was greater than my desire to stay comfy in my warm bed, I heard heavy breathing in the room. As I was fairly sure Sam was in the bathroom, someone breathing in the room besides me was fairly alarming.

Then the thought occurred to me, "Someone broke into our house and hurt Sam! That's why he cried out! And now whoever it was is in here and I'm going to die!"

[Note: All of this, from when I thought Sam got up to this point, took about 40 seconds, I think. Possibly even a whole minute.]

Well, I was working up to getting really nervous [working up to due to me being mostly asleep] when I shifted slightly in bed and felt Sam next to me. I think I gave a gasp of death [which, if you've ever been around me when I get really excited about something all of a sudden, can be rather frightening] as my heart lurched, which of course woke Sam up, since he's a fairly light sleeper. He also may have awoken because my gasp was accompanied by my limbs flailing, which of course connected with his sleeping form, sort of like a sneak attack.

I'm not sure if we mumbled anything to each other, since those details are a bit fuzzy, but it was so disconcerting, since I guess I dreamed the whole thing, even though it'd felt so real. Weird. And then when I woke up and remembered, I just laughed. Talk about funny.

Anyway, on a completely different note, I just made the connection today that if iTunes has audiobooks it might have ones I'm interested in having forever (e.g., Goose Girl, the Chrestomanci series, Howl's Moving Castle and accompanying companion novels, Sabriel). This would be particularly exciting for the Diana Wynn Jones books, since they're not exactly available in the U.S. it seems like. And has iTunes failed me? Indeed it has not! I now know what my future iTunes giftcards will be going toward. Shazam. If only it offered the Queen's Thief series, my life would be pretty much complete.

And please, no comments about how I'm a little slow if I've only just come to this realization about iTunes + audiobooks. Thanks.

xoxo

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.

Additional stalking for your enjoyment

I ought to have added this picture to the last post; I just realized it would have gone perfectly. I don't feel like editing it, though, so it gets its own post.

Before I include the picture, I'll give you the background. Sam and I [really just Sam, since he did it while I was working] were putting up Christmas decorations, and I happened to walk past the pile of boxes (e.g., for the Christmas tree, nativity, ornaments). On the Christmas tree box [I ought to mention it's a rather small tree, meaning it's a rather small box], Sam had written in permanent marker its contents. I guess last year he'd decided to economize on storage space and put some other little things inside. This was the description I saw:

I about died laughing.

[For those of you non-editors out there, he meant, of course, stockings.]

Thoughts about blogs, stalking, and comments . . . sort of

So I was reading my friend Lanette's blog [and I might as well put in a shameless plug for her--she and her husband are hoping to adopt, too, so you should check out her blog and spread the word, since they're awesome], and she mentioned reading this article: "Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs"

To me, the title says it all. The article itself is pretty funny as well as thought provoking.

For example, it is startling to me that these kinds of blogs have large followings of non-Mormon non-housewives when I am a Mormon housewife [or I am very soon to be a housewife, as much as that is possible while writing full time, though at the moment I'm still a professional in-the-world working woman] and can't really stand them. Or, rather, I have no time/patience for them. This may be because I have no baby to show off on my blog [which seems a strange reason since I usually only begrudge other people's easy fertility during a rare meltdown], do not like wasting time on crafts [any free time I have that is not spent writing is, in my definition, wasted], or I already know tons of women like this whose blogs I follow already from friendship and and don't particularly feel the need to read about complete strangers' adventures. [Note: I make an exception if the blog is witty, clever, and funny. Just wanted to get that out there.]

I was talking to a friend about it, who is also a Mormon but also not currently a housewife, and we determined that maybe these blogs are so appealing to these non-housewives because they are the metaphorical patrons at a zoo, and these blogs are the metaphorical animals inside. The blogs are fascinating and intriguing for the simple reason of being so different from what these women know and have come to expect.  Eh? You should read the article and let me know what you think. Just sayin'.

And to continue on the blog theme . . . blog stalking. I recently had to identify myself as a blog stalker to a girl I've never met who just happens to be hilarious and is moving her blog elsewhere, meaning if I wanted the new address I had to come clean. This is always a somewhat embarrassing experience [e.g., when a blog you read faithfully goes private, so you either have to suffer the sheepishness of identifying yourself or do without], even though it's not like I'm doing anything wrong. You know what I mean? But even though I know everyone blog stalks to some extent [and, let's be optimistic, I could even be lucky enough to have a few blog stalkers myself, which is a very flattering notion], I still worry that when I identify myself as a complete stranger following another complete stranger's life, I worry about being a creeper. While doing the reading I don't feel like a creeper; it's just in the identifying. Anyone else ever feel this way?

Anyway, blogs are interesting. Are there any blogs you all are fascinated with? Besides mine, of course. They can be of the stalking our out-in-the-open variety. I'd like to know. I'm always up for something new to read.

Oh, and one other thing. Goodreads. Recently I started getting friend requests from people I don't know [presumably because my reviews are so stellar?]. I'm not sure how I feel about this, because it's a bit different from blog stalking. It's like out-in-the-open I've-never-met-you-but-think-you're-cool non-stalking. It perplexes me. Especially when these non-stalkers comment on my reviews, like we know each other and are friends. It's disconcerting, since we don't know each other, but not unwanted. Anyway. That's that.


P.S., Are we friends on Goodreads? If not, we should be. I love seeing what other people are reading.


xoxo

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.

One whole hand of years

Five years ago today, I was . . .

• realizing I would not, actually, be sleeping, and just gave up
• sending Sam a text asking him how he slept and not getting a response until 9 or so, since he slept great [This after him telling me, quite firmly, that he was in no way going to be able to sleep. Hah.]
• going to get my hair done, little knowing the evil intentions the misty rain had for my curls
• going to the mall to get my makeup done [which sounded like a good idea, but when they were running 1+ hours behind, despite my appointment? yeah, not such a good idea after all]
• meeting Sam at the Oakland temple
• getting sealed to my sweetheart "for time and all eternity"
• getting probably the single shortest talk from a sealer in the history of sealings
• taking pictures outside the temple with a white umbrella, due to the aforementioned drizzle
• being blissfully happy
• driving with my husband to our reception
• getting some impromptu bridals done while Sam went with my dad to pick up the food
• wearing my husband's suit coat and possibly slippers or flip-flops instead of my pretty wedding shoes [which, it must be said, are sadly uncomfortable and ridiculously cute]
• telling people that yes, I actually had gotten married and that the absence of my groom was due to the caterer losing our order and he and my dad (as well as my aunts) having to scavenge around local grocery stores
• putting olives on my fingers [Now really, if someone put jumbo-sized olives in front of you and you loved olives, would you be able to resist? I submit that you would not.]
• driving away with my husband in a car that got sadly graffitied, in the tradition of weddings, despite Sam having parked it so carefully away
• knowing I'd just made the best decision of my life

So, in case you couldn't tell, today is our five-year anniversary [that's a whole hand of years, by the way]. I thought then that I knew what happiness was; I realize now that happiness isn't a static state but a dynamic one, one that increases and intensifies the longer you give it reason to.

Now I'm going to get a little mushy, which is highly uncharacteristic of me [for some reason, the whole PDA stuff just makes me squirm, whether I see it or am the perpetrator], so if that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to stop reading.

Dear Sam,

Thanks for making these past five years the happiest of my life. I love how much I can trust you to always stand beside me and support me, regardless of the metaphorical winds and rains buffeting me and trying to pull me down. Saying yes to you was the best decision I ever made, and if I'd known then how much happiness it would bring me I wouldn't have been at all irritated by the way you led me on the whole day prior to you proposing. ;)

Thanks for being such a wonderful example of Christlike love and service and for always making me want to better myself and prove myself worthy of an eternal relationship with you. You're so much more than everything I ever dreamed up whenever I imagined my eternal companion. Every day I can't believe how lucky I am that you picked me and how blessed I am that Heavenly Father led us to each other.

I love you so much and am so excited about the eternity I have to spend with you. You're the sunshine to my every day, even when it's nasty and snowing outside.

Love for eternity,

Holly

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.

Holly + Sam + puppy = a very merry Christmas

So, some of you may remember that for Christmas last year, Sam bought me a dog collar as a way of saying he was ready to buy a dog. And, also as some of you may remember, I sort of freaked out when we actually went looking at dogs [some might say I discovered I have commitment issues], and we ended up going home just the two of us.

Well, a month or two ago we started feeling like maybe now we [and by "we" I mean "I"] were ready for a dog now. We started looking at KSL ads and everything, and then I started getting the panicky feeling I got last year. So I told Sam, "If you feel like now is a good time for us to get a dog, you're going to have to get one and surprise me." This is because I can handle the commitment if the commitment's already been made, but to choose the commitment . . . that's much more risky.

Well, it's no longer just the two of us. We've become a family of three! Meet Glorfindel ("Fin" for short--and 20 points to anyone who correctly identifies the origin of his name):

Isn't he absolutely the cutest thing you've ever seen? Sam surprised me with him for Christmas. He was so sneaky about it--I had no idea he'd done it until last night as we were going to bed and we heard whimpering upstairs. Considering our landlady is a firm cat person, I knew the whimpering was for me. Sam tried to ignore it and I tried to pretend not to hear it, but after it'd gone on for a while and gotten progressively louder, he turned to me and said, "Do you want one of your Christmas presents early?"

Fin is such a good little dog already. He's 1/2 golden retriever, 1/2 poodle (meaning he'll get quite big, we think) and is 10 weeks old. We started him potty training right away, and he's already got the idea that when we take him outside, it means it's time to empty his bowels. Also, he's learned what "no" means and learned that shoes always provoke a stern "no," as does chewing on clothes, toes, chair legs, etc. We went to Walgreen's [the only store open today, I think] and got him a tug-of-war rope and a little rabbit that squeaks, and he fell in love with both. Pretty much they're his new best friends.

Speaking of Fin's best friends, Sam's his #1 best friend. If Sam's laying on the floor, Fin will go lay on top of him, practically, every time. He makes a very good little shadow, too. We're watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi currently, and he's been so funny during it. Despite being dead tired [We wore him out, so hopefully he'll sleep as well tonight as he did last night.], he'll sit straight up every once in a while and just watch the TV with this perplexed look on his face, like he just doesn't know what to make of it and the sounds coming out of it. I wish I had a picture of it. And he's soooo soft. I love to pet and cuddle him, and he loves to be petted and cuddled. We think he'll be a really good dog, especially if we're consistent with him.

So, welcome to the family, Fin! We're so excited to have you. Pretty much all we need now is a baby for you to grow up with. Family of four, anyone?

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.