A Great Weekend!

This past weekend, Clint and I had a fun, and relaxing time. It was definitely needed. It started off with me taking a vacation day on Friday, giving me a three day weekend. The point of taking Friday off was so that I could volunteer at church (more in a bit) and get some things accomplished around the house. Well, I accomplished ZERO at the house, but did get a lot done. Here's what Friday looked like:

• Up at 4:30 am to go to 5:00 am swim.


• Back home to eat breakfast and get laundry going (okay so I guess I accomplished a little bit at the house)


• Grocery shopping


• Back home to put away groceries and fold laundry


• Drop off Clint's bike at the bike shop to get his brakes switched out for the wheels he borrowed for the Four States Triathlon


• Volunteer at church putting pinwheels together with special prayers concerning foster/adoption. The Sunday sermon was specifically on this topic and wouldn't you know of all Sundays to miss, we had to miss this one. However, I'm glad I got to work on the pinwheels and read/reflect on the special prayers and get to know others in the Life Matters group. (I also listened to the sermon online on Monday).


• After church went to check out a boarding place for the pups. I just hate taking them to the vet for boarding. I loved this place! It's called 'Can Rover Come Over' and if you are in Longview and need to take your dogs somewhere, THIS is the place. They also do doggie day care, grooming, bathing, etc.


• Hobby Lobby to get a project for my girls (unfortunately they were both in trouble and didn't get to see me on Monday. I'm praying next week will be better for them)


• BooksAMillion for a book for Clint to read while we were out camping


• Academy to try ONE MORE TIME to find some goggles that work for me. I have had the same pair for 5-6 years because they have been the only ones to work well on my face, but they are on their last leg...scratched so much I can't see and break every time I put them on. I've bought others over the years, but they have been no-go's. Well, I bought ANOTHER pair on Friday (they ended up working great! Thank you, Lord!)


• Mall to get more Proactive (yes, I'm in my thirties and still break out worse than a teenager!)


• Run through Chick-fil-A for lunch.


• Back by shop to pick Clint's bike back up


• Home to eat, e-mails, hang out just a bit


• Take dogs to new boarding place and make sure they are going to be okay


• Sonic Happy Hour!


• Run by gym to renew my Titan Training contract


• And home where I had just enough time to start packing and loading for our camping/triathlon trip

Whew! Clint came home from work and we got the last bit loaded before taking off. Stopped for dinner in Atlanta and then on to camping on Lake Wright Patman. We got the tent set up and everything in before the sun went down. We tried going to sleep a little early because we were so tired, but we had some loud neighbors.

Saturday Clint and I tried to sleep in, but the cold air, need to use the bathroom, and crazy loud bird had us up. I was really worried because it was so chilly and cloudy. Fortunately the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a much more pleasant day. In the morning, we just hung out, read, Clint worked on his Adoption Questionnaire, I took a nap. We then decided to go for a walk. We went to the end of our camping area and could see the race site across the cove. There were several boys playing with a volleyball and running around. They warned us about snakes, lol. Their ball went into the water and all but one of them were in the water messing around. The boy who stayed back started up a conversation with us in which he said that he's been to Lake Wright Patman before. I say back, 'Oh yeah? Do you come here often with your family?' He responds back, "No ma'am, I live at the Texarkana Baptist Orphanage." Ugh! That immediately tugged at mine and Clint's heart strings. :( Seemed like a great kid!

Anyway, after that we hung out with Clay and Mikki for awhile before we decided to eat lunch and go for a bike ride on the race course. Clay decided at the last minute he wanted to race too, so we all headed into Texarkana to register Clay and pick up our packets. We then headed to Academy to try to find something for him to race in! Then dinner at the Genghis Grill. I liked it! Can't wait until we get one here now. We then came back to camp, showered, up, hung out by the fire and then called it a night.

Sunday was race day! I won't go into all the details, but we had a great time! Clint placed second overall and I placed third overall for females! And the bonus was that they gave cash prizes to the top three overall males and females! I'm so glad I finally jumped back in to triathlons, I can't believe I took a near three year hiatus.

After the race we broke down camp and headed home. Came home to this!:

A fence! And yes, we need to mow before we lose the dogs out there, but they sure are happy to be able to run free without leashes! We've wanted a fence since we moved in and we were finally able to get one. I think they did a great job!

That evening we went to the Mobberly Tailgate Party and had a lot of fun hanging out with our small group and other church members/visitors. Here's a picture of us (rest on FB):

So that's a very quick recap of our fun weekend! We need more of those! :)

I'm losing my job!

And I am THRILLED!! I know, how in the world could someone be happy about losing a job? Well those of you who have been reading along know about my months of wrestling with the issue of becoming a stay-at-home mom. It's what I wanted and feel is right for the children, but I struggled with the guilt of 'throwing away my education', letting others down, living on one income, making a mistake etc. And then of course was the biggie: Telling my boss...the workaholic, the one who could spend 24/7 in the office and never take a vacation. The one who didn't really care for his own wife staying home to be with their kids. I had been waiting and waiting to tell him and then God and his perfect timing came along!

I can't really get into a lot of details, but there are circumstances that my boss is being forced to either get rid of the company and start up a new one or close it up all together. He came into my office on Monday to discuss it with me and asked what my plans were, did I want to do this forever, etc. I was finally able to tell him the big secret! Talk about instant relief! And I know he is feeling relief on his end as well because he knows that he won't be taking a job I wanted/needed out from under me. I am still just amazed at how things all fell into place like they have. Now, there are two other people in this company and nothing has been decided yet so he may decide to keep it going. And if the company does close up shop, I'm not sure of any timelines, etc. either. We should know more here in the next few weeks. I know it is a lot for him to sort through. No matter what though, I am ready and my mind is at peace.

I am just so ecstatic and feel like this huge weight has been taken off. It's also making me realize that we are in fact getting closer to parenthood. We've had to take another adoption specific training class these past two weeks and that is making things sink in more too. We were introduced to other families who have adopted or are in the process of finalizing and they talked about the waiting. The waiting and working through everything hasn't bothered me and I wonder if it should or perhaps it just hasn't hit yet. Right now I stil have 'tasks' to complete so it's active. I think after everything is done and we are truly in wait mode that I might get more anxious.

I hope I will be a good parent. One of our 'tasks' is to complete a questionnaire that asks anything and everything. I feel like I'm having to give a masters thesis to adopt. It asks some pretty tough questions, ones that I'm not sure how to answer and that worries me. Maybe I really don't know what I'm doing or will do. Perhaps I am unfit to be a parent. Lots of thoughts and questions wandering through my mind lately!