HOW MY BRAIN WORKS

Here is how my brain works.....

A few weeks ago we were at a friends house when they told how there dog had lower intestinal blockage. It seems that if they could not get this cleared up then they were going to have to put the dog down. Lucky for the dog all things passed! Flash forward a few weeks when I saw a friend at church. She was not looking good and I asked her if she was sick. You guessed it she said that she had lower intestinal blockage and was not feeling great. The only thing running through my brain was " I hope they don't have to put you down"!

UPDATE ON MOM

Mom is back home now and resting even if she does not want too! The doctors said that she has Vascular Angina. Its where the veins going to her heart collaps and thats when she has her problems. She will be taking medication to help. We are glad that it is only this and that there is nothing wrong with her heart.

YOUR PRAYERS

Please keep my Mother, Kathy Whitman in your prayers. She is in ICU with heart related problems. Greg is taking good xare of her a we appreciate averything that he does for his wife.

HAPPINESS IS.....

Happiness is...

Having your son wake up and the first thing he says is "Happy Birthday, Dad!". A perfect birthday gift!

NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY

It has been a few weeks since we finalized the adoption of the kids on November 15th, National Adoption Day. Life has been super busy since then but I wanted to look back for just a moment on that special day.

To start off the whole day was a blur. It reminded me of my wedding day when something that you have been working on for so long finally comes to pass. It was all a blur and we were emotional overcome that we were finally here on this day and that we would soon be finished. The stress of somehow losing these 2 wonderful children would soon be over! So we just allowed the staff to guide us in the right direction. Liz and I and the kids were first on the list since they were going in alphabetical order so we had to be in Dallas at 8:30 AM. We were glad to be joined by friends and family who came to support us on this special day. The judge, lawyer and staff were awesome. Everyone was helpful and supportive. All of the staff volunteered to be there that day. The judge was nice and allowed me to call my Mother and Sister so that they could listen in. Our lawyer swore us in and then asked me a lot of questions. Once he was finished he asked Liz that if he were to asked her all of the same questions would she answer the same? She said "yes" and that was it, we were done. These kids were ours forever and ever and no matter what! So much time and effort and it was finished! Afterwards we signed some paperwork and then we had our first family portrait taken. They had food and clowns making balloon animals and lots of people. We said goodbye to all of our friends and family and took the kids to Build-A-Bear and to lunch. To top if off we went home and put up our first Christmas tree together. Next year we will plan a trip to the LDS Dallas Temple to be sealed as a family forever!

Thank you for the support of friends and family on this long and emotional journey. We would not have made it without you! We are also very thankful to everyone at CPS. We have had a lot of help during this long process. And a big thank you to all of you who came to Dallas on November 15th to support us. Mom and Dad, Diane and Joe, Kathy, Amie and kids, The Garvins, The van der Upwiches, and Nancy! It means so much to us that you made such a great effort to come down and support us.

RACING

My son loves racing! It started off with the movie "Cars" which he would watch endlessly! Then I got him into "Speed Racer" and then "Herbie". This kid loves it all! Then it happened... We let him watch NASCAR and he was hooked. He will sit and watch 150 lapses of a race and just love it! Liz and I are not big on racing but we are learning quickly! NASCAR is good because we have taught him that you can win the race but if you when the whole series then you get the "Piston Cup". The only problem with this is that he is not too good with saying "piston"! I do have a feeling that we will be going to the races next year!

CHRISTMAS CARDS

While still eating turkey and ham sandwiches left over from Thanksgiving we received our first Christmas card on December 2nd. This year the first card came from John & Carly Goode. Way to go, John and Carly! Today We love to get Christmas cards and goodies from friends and family both near and far. This year we are looking forward to explaining to the kids who all of these cards came from! So, I am off to the post office to get the first batch of Christmas cards and goodies in the mail. I know that all of you will be checking your mailbox with joy and anticipation!

Getting Ready for Christmas

The stockings are hung on the fireplace. The tree is up and presents are starting to appear. The letters are almost ready to be sent out. The CDs are almost burnt! The children won't nestle all snug in their beds because they are too excited for Christmas to come. 25 days left!! We can't wait!

This is our first family picture taken on July 1st 2008. We took the kids and their foster mom to Double Dave's Pizza. I can't believe how much they've changed in less then 5 months. To read the post from this night click here.

http://texasandersons.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-are-happy-family.html

National Adoption Day

Our lawyer and us before we started!

With the judge after it was over!!

Our first family picture.

Taken at the court by a volunteer professional photographer.

Almost Final

Tomorrow is the big day. We have to be at court at 8:30am. The court starts at 9am and we are first on the list of adoption finalizations. It should be a good day. If you live close enough and want to get up early you're welcome to come witness history!! It has been a crazy week full of emotions. I don't even think the kids know why they have been so emotional. They don't fully understand all that is going on.
The best part about tomorrow is that we can post pictures when we get home!!!! So check back tomorrow night to "see" what we've been up to since July!!!!!!!!!

The Anderson Family
Invites you to witness their beginning
On National Adoption Day,
Saturday, November 15, 2008 @ 8:30am
At The Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center
2600 Lone Star Drive, Dallas, Texas

National Adoption Day

We just received approval to finalize our adoption on National Adoption Day - Novemeber 15th!! We will post more info as we receive it! We can't wait until they are legally ours!!!!!!!!!!

TURTLE NEWS

Our dachshunds Peanut and Ginger will chase anything that move in our big back yard. Mostly it's squirrels but a few weeks ago we had a lot of rain and on 2 different occasions they brought in dead baby rabbits. Then one morning I was working at the desk when I looked down to see this weird object that Peanut had brought in. I It was a turtle shell! The shell was all sealed up and I thought that maybe it was dead so I put it in a box to show the kids when they came home. Awhile later I heard a noise and it was the turtle trying to get out! I kept the turtle until the kids got home so that I could show them and Liz. See, Liz is afraid of turtles! You know, they might get her! Her toes were curling so I had to release the turtle into the wild to fend for himself!

PS: Now we can add field mice to the list since they brought in 2 of them the other day. One was a live and was was dead.

LIFE OF DAVE...

I called the doctors office to make an appointment for a sleep study for my sleep apnea. The girl explained the details of my upcoming visiting including that I should wear what I would normally wear to bed. I told her that I normally sleep in the nude. There was a long silence.... "Is that alright"? I asked... She replied... NO!

I went to the AT &T store to get a new cell phone. I walk in at the same time as a woman with her 2 kids. The AT &T employee ask us if we were "together" and I said that we were just good friends! With out missing a beat the woman with the 2 kids said "and I do not even know which one is his"!

We came home one night and the kids noticed the Gecko lizards on our garage. "Do they bite" the kids asked. In which I replied "No, they just sell insurance"

This is just some of the stuff that Liz has to put up with on a day to day basics!

HAPPINESS IS....

Happiness is....

Listening to your kids sing primary songs. "J" and "B" love to sing and they know the words. They love to sing while we are driving, at the computer or going to bed at night. Nothing could make Liz or I happier.

TACO BUENO

When the kids get to pick the place to eat it is always Taco Bueno. Think "Del Taco" but not as good which is not saying much. If it is not Taco Buena then next up is McDonalds, Wendy's, Chick-fl-a or Taco bell. I offer Chipotle, Chili's, Jason's Deli anything! I mean I would even eat Taco bell or McDonalds! We do save "kids choice" for special events and since Liz was in McAllen, TX having dinner at Tony Romas (None in DFW area) I got to eat at Taco Bueno! I am going to try to talk them into Buffalo Wild Wings for the Tuesday night wing special before we pick up Liz at the airport.

Time flies when you're having fun...

I can't believe it has been only 3 months since we became a family. It has been a wonderful 3 months - crazy, fun, wild, happy, tough, but soooooo worth it. We are actively working to finalize the adoption early. Tomorrow we will meet with our case worker (who is okay with early finalization) and the kids new case worker (if she's okay we are going for it!!). So hopefully we will have a court date soon. Our wish is to finalize on National Adoption Day - November 15th. Once it is finalized our blog will get much cuter - pictures galore!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support. These kids are lucky to have parents with such great family and friends!!!!!

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

All of us get hooked on goofy stuff. Mine is the old TV show "In the heat of the night". The show ran from 1988-19994 and like a lot of shows I did not really start watching it until it went into reruns. For years the show was on a lot but then they took it off the air. I am excited to say that WGN is back to showing the reruns and I am filling up my DVR with the shows. The show is not on DVD so I need to find a way to record it to DVD myself. I gotta get back to watching my show!

Things I never thought I'd say...

"Because I said so"

That has got to be the best phrase ever!!!!!!!!!