Another Giveaway

One of these days I will actually win! :) But there is yet another giveaway. :) Mrs. R, from the R house, is giving away some of her jewelry that she makes. She started making this jewelry to help pay for the attorney while she was trying to ensure that her little G baby would be sealed to her family for eternity. She is currently giving away a necklace that sums up her very being of last year and this year. The necklace says "Come what May" and has an additional charm that says "And Love It." So on those good days, you can wear both. We all have our trials and how we overcome them is what counts. How we respond shows who we truly are. Every trial I have had has shaped me to the woman I have become. Some days, I can truly say I am grateful for my trials. Other days, I really am just surviving. That is why I want this necklace. I want to outwardly show that though trials may come, I will continue to love who I am and who I will become. If you want to check out the giveaway, go here. And if you feel inclined to enter, I won't hold a grudge (as long as I win!) ;)

Giveaway

My sister just posted about a giveaway from this blog and of course I fell in love with this whole idea. So I decided to enter too. A little healthy competition between sisters doesn't hurt right? Check out these cute personalized blankets at www.fillintheblankie.com.

Trying Something New

I found something cute and I wanted to share it with all of you. :) Robby and I have gotten on a little kick of trying to save the planet. Mostly it started as we have become vegans. It has changed a lot of our perspective on life and how we are living it. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful world and want to do our best to preserve it for our children and grandchildren. So with that we are starting to eat more organic, we are recycling more, and I am going to cloth diaper our children. But seeing as I'm still a realist (some days), I wanted to have something easy, something I could commit to, and last of all, something cute. And I found it in gDiapers. These things are too cute and I can't wait until our sweet little bundle of joy will be strutting (yes our children will strut) around in these.My favorite little boy pair. I love the stripes and all the colors!
Ruffles. I love Ruffles! Who needs bloomers when you have these? (and yes all of my future baby's dresses have bloomers so we'll just be doubling up)
I love these ones. They are limited edition only so I'm working on getting Robby to agree to purchasing a couple of these.
And what collection would be complete without a pink one that is called Pink Gaga? So cute!
This is what I'm going to buy to start out with. It comes with 6 covers (8-14 pounds), 6 liners, a case of biodegradable inserts (this is the only thing that really gets dirty so hardly any washing), and then 12 tiny little infant pants that go from 6 pounds to 10 pounds. You can choose to use the biodegradable inserts or use cloth. We will probably be using a combination of the two but I love that these will not be sitting in a landfill for hundreds of years. I've read a lot of good reviews but before I could convince Robby to take the plunge (and fork out a chunk of change), I bought 2 pair at the store today. They are SO cute and I can't wait to try them out on a little baby. So if you would let me borrow your baby (needs to be 8-14 pounds and be fairly close), I will totally babysit for as long as you need. :) Plus you will get a free couple of diaper changes out of the deal! :) If you want to learn more about gDiapers, you can go here.

Missing...

Missing these little babies.

Missing these little guys. :)

(In both pictures Erik is on the left and David on the right)

Can they really be the same two little boys? I can't believe that around this time 2 years ago my sister finally fessed up that she was pregnant. She was so funny and was convinced that "Peanut" was a little girl. In early May when she went in for the Ultrasound and found out there were two little boys in there, let's just say we were all shocked. But I don't think I could love 2 little boys more than this! :) And now, these little boys will be starting Nursery. I can't believe how big they are. I wish they weren't so far away but I'm so grateful for the internet so I can see these little guys often. :) I love you David and Erik! And quit growing up so fast!

Fasting

We are fasting tomorrow and would love if anyone would be able to join us. If you would like to know more, please let me know and I'll email you the reason. Thanks for all of your love and support!

Disneyland

Yet another trip to Disneyland! :) We just love Disneyland so much! Everyone always asks if we get sick of it and it makes me laugh. There is always so much to do that it never gets old. This trip we took it pretty easy and enjoyed watching shows and the parade and fireworks, and just enjoyed being with each other.

This is us being escorted onto the Tower of Terror by Chip and Dale (Chip is on the right by me and Dale is on the left by Robby). We were waiting for the rope to drop and we saw some cast members dressed in their hotel outfits so Robby's dad (who came with us) pushed us towards the rope. They asked us if we wanted to ride Tower of Terror. We said yes and they said "Ok, follow us." We got to go under the rope and walk with them toward the ride. As we were walking, they told us that we would be the first ones on the ride for the day and that we would get to sign the guest book. Only one family gets to do this a day so we were pretty excited. It was so much fun and a brand new experience.

It was so much fun just to be with family and to just enjoy life. I'm really trying hard at just living in the moment. Enjoying life and not trying to think "I'll be happy when..." It's so hard for me because we are so wrapped up in adoption and hoping and wishing for a child and how that will bring so much joy in our lives. But I am thankful for the time that I have with Robby. I'm thankful for the 9 hours of sleep I can get every night. I'm thankful that I have a job and that I am growing in that job (I just got a promotion). :) I am grateful for the time I have to prepare for a child. I am trying to find the joy in every day and though it can be a challenge some days, I receive so much peace.

I'm hoping that peace gets me through this next month. Almost a year ago, we were told that we would not get pregnant without an expensive procedure. It's hard remembering that day but I'm trying to push through and remember the year as a whole instead of that one day. So instead, I'm going to be thinking of our Birth Mom. I know that she is struggling right now. I cannot even explain the love I have for her and I hope that we find her soon. We would really appreciate if you could pray for this sweet young woman and keep her in your thoughts. <3

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

I am not a great cook and more often than not, I mess something up, so I'm always a little weary in the kitchen. I have lit margarine on fire in the microwave (forgot to take the metal wrapping off) and I have had cookies literally light on fire and have to be taken out of the oven and sprayed with water outside. These were both when I was much younger, but it doesn't inspire much confidence.

So today, I made Vegan Chili. I found a recipe online and decided that all I had to do was open cans, chop a few veggies, add in some spices, and let soak for a few hours.

My efforts were a success! :) I found the recipe online at http://crockpotrecipes101.com/vegetariancrockpotchili.htm. I cooked it in my crock pot for about 5 hours while I was gone at church. The house smelled fabulous afterwards and we have a ton of left overs that I will be packing in our lunches over the next few days. It was filling, pretty healthy, and SO delicious. We made some corn bread to go with it using Jiffy mix with applesauce instead of eggs and Almond Milk for regular milk. The muffins were SO moist and the perfect amount of sweetness from the applesauce.

I have also made my own adaptation of California Pizza Kitchen's Mexican Pizza.

I take some pizza dough, then bake it with a can of black bean chili (vegan of course). After that is done, I cover it with Mexican rice, shredded lettuce (CPK uses iceburg but we use Romaine and it's much better), and then finish off with some Pico and broken tortilla chips. It is SO good. We have made it 3 times in the past couple of weeks and it turns out great every time.

I am glad that I am finally capable of making something edible! :) Both meals are super easy and take less than 30 minutes of preparation. Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Button Button, Who's got a Button?

If you would like to create a button that links to our adoption blog, I'm here to tell you how. ;)

Go to Customize, Layout, Page Elements. Then Add a Gadget. Choose Picture. Copy the link to our blog (http://makingourhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/) and then add a picture. You can just save the picture I have for my button, or you can choose any picture that you like (preferably one of me and Robby). :) Then you click save and VOILA, a button! I would be SOOOOO grateful if you could do this. The best way for us to be matched is for all of our friends and family to spread the word. We are hoping to have our passalong cards done in the near future so if you haven't already sent me your address, please do so. My email is on the adoption blog if you would like to not have to leave it as a comment. We are SO excited for this journey ahead of us (and we are praying every day that our journey will not be too long). Thanks for all your love and support!

(feel free to use this picture if you would like) <3

Adoption Blog

We have an Adoption Blog! It's not totally done yet, but if you know anyone who is thinking of placing their baby for adoption, please direct them to makingourhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com. Or they can email us at robbyandangeeadopt@gmail.com. We are hoping to bring a baby into our lives very soon and appreciate ANY help you can give us in building our family!

Open Adoption

I found this on one of the blogs I follow. You can find her story here. I get questions all the time about what I think about open adoption and I think this sums it up perfectly. The R House and Joniece (their birthmom) have been such inspirations and have helped form my testimony of adoption. This is straight from Joniece's blog.

"There are so many wonderful things about having an open adoption, I could go on forever. ( And I will in a later post) however this one was soley meant for the purpose of expressing my appreciation to Lindsey and Josh.

Not only are they doing a wonderful Job being parents to G baby, but they show their love for me day in and day out by letting my family and I be a part of his life. It means so much to my family. And it means so much to me.

People ask me if seeing him makes it harder for me, and honestly it doesn't. On the contrary it makes it easier, it only confirms my decision way back when was the right decision. And it brings me peace and joy to get to be as active as I have been in his life.

I wanted to say thank you to josh and Linds. Without you that picture above would have never been possible. Without you and your willingness to have an open adoption my parents wouldn't get to know their bio-grandson, and I wouldn't know the peace I do in my heart and the healing I do in my soul. I love you all. Merry Christmas."

I truly cannot wait to have that in my life. I want to find our birth mother who I can become friends with. We will have such a special bond between us and our baby. I want those extra people there to love our child. I want my children to know that they were/are loved by birth families. I don't want them to wonder or to count on me to tell them that. I want them to know. I want our birth mother to be able to heal and to be able to move on with her life and to grow. I don't want her to wonder if she did the right thing. I want my children to see where they get their eyes, their smile, their love of dancing or books. I love adoption with all my heart and am so excited to continue our journey to adopt. Please feel free to ask me any questions about adoption and I will be more than happy to share my testimony.