Tryin' out my new Heely's

So my birthday isn't actually til tomorrow, but when I got home from work, my new heely's were sitting on the doorstep, and I HAD to try them out. I haven't wiped out yet, but i'm not too smooth yet either...

Here's hopin' for a Happy Birthday REferral tomorrow!

Tryin' out the new heely's

Yeah, my birthdays not til tomorrow, but when i got home from work my Heely's were waiting on the doorstep, so i had to try them out! And they rock! I haven't wiped out yet, but I'm not looking too smooth yet either.

Here's hopin' for a Happy Birthday Referral tomorrow!!

Cris' leg

because i am in an army residency we have mandatory PT a few times a month. It usually is just playing "ultimate football" which is basically just throwing the ball. no touching or tackling. just throwing and running. But the guys for some reason find it necessary to constantly be hurting eachother during the game. Cris often comes along to PT with me. The residents all play, and the medical students if we have some rotating. 3 weeks ago one of the medical students tackled Cris, and everyone on the field heard "pop-pop". Cris hobbled over onto the sidelines, and then eventually walked to the truck to ice his ankle. He used crutches for 3-4 days, then abandoned those and started just walking on the ankle. Never got better, never got better. Finally, after much prodding he agreed to get an x-ray. You guessed it...broken. The tibia and fibula.

So off to orthopedics, who basically said since he has already been walking around on it for 3 weeks, he could just keep doing what he was doing. they gave him a little boot, and off he went. enjoy the visual aids

Still no news on the Stickley Baby. It's March 26th, so the chance of a March referral is looking pretty slim. We are so excited to finally get to see our baby girl's picture, and we are just trying to be patient. There are many many factors that play into international adoption, so we are just trying to go with the flow.

Boys....

...will be boys, no matter how old they are. Here is a little story:
because i am in an army residency we have mandatory PT a few times a month. It usually is just playing "ultimate football" which is basically just throwing the ball. no touching or tackling. just throwing and running. But the guys for some reason find it necessary to constantly be hurting eachother during the game. Cris often comes along to PT with me. The residents all play, and the medical students if we have some rotating. 3 weeks ago one of the medical students tackled Cris, and everyone on the field heard "pop-pop". Cris hobbled over onto the sidelines, and then eventually walked to the truck to ice his ankle. He used crutches for 3-4 days, then abandoned those and started just walking on the ankle. Never got better, never got better. Finally, after much prodding i convinced him to get an x-ray. You guessed...broken...in 2 spots. The tibia and fibula were both broken

So, off to orthopedics, who basically said that since he has been walking around on it for 3 weeks already, he'd rather not mess with it, so they gave him a little boot to wear.

No new adoption news. No referral. March 26th. I'm still trying to be patient.

Vietnam Orpahanges

I am attaching some pictures of orphanages in Vietnam (courtesy of adoptionbuzz.org). There are 2 styles of orphanages in Vietnam. One is more formal, like a hospital, and the other is very informal. You can see an example of each in these pictures. Our baby will be at the Tam Ky Baby House in the Quang Nam province. This is a small orphanage, but i don't know what type.

End of another week

Another March weekend is over. Still waiting (not so patiently) for our referral. I unfortunately had to work all weekend, but Cris got our grill put together and got some stuff done around the house.
My birthday is March 29. I am hoping hoping hoping for our referral for my birthday. and also a pair of Heelys (no laurie, i didn't get mine yet!) I can't wait until i can zip around from the clinic to L&D to the ED with lightning speed.

In other news the Buckeye's won a close game this week. Our Buckeye Dogs were cheering on their team.

Since it looks like we won't be in Vietnam in May, I am going to try to make a trip home to see the fam. I have a new little niece due May 14th, so i am hoping to get to meet her on my trip home.

Another week ends...

We are coming up on the close of another week in March. Still waiting (not so patiently) for our referral. I had to work all weekend, but while i was at work cris was busy around the house, and set up our new grill! We were never really into grilling, but now that we live in a place that is 75 degrees and sunny 365 days a year, we thought it might be fun to have a grill.

Since it looks like we won't be travelling to Vietnam in May (we are still hoping for june though!) I am hoping to be able to come home for a visit. I have a new little niece on the way (Tommy and Sonya are due May 14th!!), so hopefully I will get to meet the new baby.
Other upcoming events...my birthday is March 29th. I am hoping for a picture of our baby girl for my birthday. and also a pair of heely's. I think having some Heely's would really cut down on how long it takes me to go from clinic, to L&D, to the ER. that is as long as i don't wipe out too often.

I'm attaching some pics from our totally awesome visit with the Matus gang in January. It was so much fun to have Coral, Ed, Alex, Lyndsey and Brent in Hawaii. If you click on the picture you can see a big version.

In Hawaii,New Year's is celebrated with endless hours of home fireworks which extend into the early morning hours. it actually creates so much smoke that you can barely see if you go outside. we joined in the celebration with our own style of fireworks.

Cris and the kids hanging out at the beach.

Tree monkeys

Don and Nova Stickley

Grandma and Grandpa to some, more recently Mamaw and Pampaw to the great-grandchildren, Don and Nova Stickley have lived an extraordinary life in small town Ohio.

Lifelong farmers and world wide travelers, grandma and grandpa Stickley have taught their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren how to live life to the fullest. Their house is always filled with fun and laughter, and a favorite hangout for family get-togethers. Although now in their 8th decade, and married 60 years, it is not unusual to find grandma sitting on grandpa's lap, a twinkle in their eyes, as they still act like newly-weds.

A recent letter from Grandma Stickley read "we are so thankful to God for His many blessings in our life". It is obvious that this amazing couple lives a life full of God's Blessings!

We love you Mamaw and Pampaw!

Family

We are still waiting for any info on our baby girl. While we are waiting I though I would post about some of the members of the awesome family we will be welcoming the baby into. Both Cris and I are blessed beyond belief with the greatest families ever.

Iris Davis
This is my amazing grandma. Grandma was one of the happiest people I have ever known. She was a truly wonderful person, who loved each of her 5 children, 16 grandchildren, and 4 greatgrandchildren more than anything. I know that she thought about us and prayed for us every day. Grandma's life served as an example for everyone she was around of what it meant to live a truly sacrifical, happy, and christ-like life. Grandma was anxiously awaiting the arrival of her next great-granddaughter from Vietnam, but died peacefully 2 weeks ago. She joined Grandpa, as well as her great-grandson Ethan , and great-granddaughter Ellianna in Heaven. She will be thought of often.

Check out this video

This is a little video showing our travel path when we finally head to vietnam to get our baby. We are practicing putting some video on here so we can post videos while we are there.

Check out this video

I am just learning how to put videos on here.i got this off Google Earth. It is cool to see where we will be headed in a few months (hopefully!)

DTV (Dossier To Vietnam)

Hi guys,
so, this is a big step in the adoption world. Actually getting this huge pile of paperwork to end up in the right country. Our dossier was state certified, then authenticated, then mailed off to vietnam for translation. I talked to the agency on wednesday, and they are still anticipating a March referral. hmmmm....there are only 22 days left in March. So hopefully they are right. They are also still hopeful for travel by June. Although I am beginning to have some doubt about that one.
The next step is for the dossier to be translated (about a week), then it gets logged in and processed. A referral will come aroudn sometime during this, and then we travel!
Cris and I have been keeping busy at work and around the house. We have a lot of little projects we are working on. We are getting excited because my little sister, Betsy, is planning to move to Hawaii to go to the School of Dance at UH. She should be coming this summer! My little brother Drew is also planning to come this summer after graduating from high school. I can't wait until they get here! It will be so nice to have some family join us here in Hawaii for a little while.

DTV - FINALLY!!!!!!!

so we are finally DTV. I can't believe how long it's taken, considering we dropped off our dossier at the agency in the end of January. Then it got state certified. then went to the consulate in DC. our dossier then celebrated Tet on someone's desk for about a week, then finally made it back across the pacific ocean to honolulu. It is now in Vietnam. I feel like i can't really say it is DTV because it has to be translated in Vietnam, which supposedly takes about a week. But i'm still going to stay DTV because I like to think things are moving along. Again our agency tells us we should have a referral this month. March is such a long month. But 9 days have already passed, which only leaves 22 days left. I am such a micro-manager. I wish there was some kind of GPS tracking device on my dossier so i could see exactly where it is right this second.


In addition, i got tagged by Laurie so i have to say 10 odd things about me....

1. BABY NAMES. I like pretty much every single baby name. Even weird ones. My top runner for a baby name was Sunshine Delight. I like the name sunshine, yeah, it's a little hippie-ish, but cute. cris' sister's middle name is Delight, which is also a little strange, but grew on me, so i thought Sunshine Delight was cute. But my friends made fun of me, and said her nickname would be Sunny D. I guess it is kind of a weird combo. and she woudl probably get teased. It got vetoed


2. THE BOY/GIRL HAIRCUT. When i was in 7th grade i won my age group for a 5k race. one of the prizes was a free hair cut at SuperCuts. I had stringy hair all the way down to my butt, so i thought this was a great opportunity to get a trendy junior high haircut. I was homeschooled, and probably not always right on top of the fashion world (not that homeschoolers can't be very fashionable, but i certainly wasn't), so i picked a haircut out of one of those runway books they have in salons. It was shaved on one-side, shoulder lenght on the other with a perm. I loved it. and my mom let me have it because she didn't want to squash my style. it didn't look very good, and i get teased about it til this day.


3. Speaking of hairstyles, my dog wears a red mohawk


4. MTV reality show addiction. We didn't have a tv growing up, so i like to blame the fact that i will watch any old junk that is on tv on the fact that my parents deprived me. Obviously not true. I just love stupid TV. I watch 'my super sweet sixteen' 'the next bus' 'date my mom' 'homeraiders'. my husband thinks that it is ridulous that i am 27 years old with one hundred better things to do than to watch 'date my mom' but somehow i still watch this trash.

5. I am an EXCELLENT interpretive dancer. hmmmm...maybe not so excellent, but i make up little interpretive dances. currently my best one is to 'wind beneath my wings'. it is even better if i sing and dance to it at the same time. i also have a really good one for 'hit me baby one more time' by britney spears

6. i love cracking knuckles. mostly other peoples knuckles. it is kind of like an addiction. im sure it is annoying to my friends and family that i am constantly trying to crack their knuckles (especially toe knuckles) but i can't stop myself

7. i hate for anyone to hear me pee. Even my husband. i always close adn lock the bathroom door. If i am peeing in public i try to flush the toilet and pee at the same time so you can't actually hear the urine hitting the toilet.

8. I hate men's armpit hair. especially when there are deodarant clumps in it. it makes me almost gag. For that reason i believe that men should not wear tank tops.

9. i count on my fingers. i really can't count without using my fingers. I know this is really strange, but if i am going to bed at 9:00 i have to use my fingers to count how many hours of sleep i will get if i wake up at 4:30

10. I have a severe fear of food getting old or moldy. i can't drink milk on or even 1 day after the expiration date. I can only eat a loaf of bread if i have had it for <5 days, and i thoroughly inspect it before i bite it, for fear that there are secret mold spores growing inside the bread that i can't see.

So that is actually a pretty long a detailed list. i think i am procrastinating so i don't have to do the paperwork i am supposed to be working on.