So just in case some of you are wondering what is going on - I want to say there was a problem a problem bigger than anyone on this planet that was resolved through the power of prayer on many people’s parts. The only way this problem could have been solved was by God and Him alone - He is so awesome and great! So just in case you have not got it already some BIG prayers were answered and I am over the moon!

As always I am busy and trying to get everything done - so sorry I have not been commenting lately I am a little behind BUT have been saving all the posts in my Google Reader so I promise to get back to reading AND commenting again soon - but I want to be sure I am ready for the twins first…

I promise that I will be back soon….

For as long as I had wanted to get married (which was not until I was older) I wanted to get married on June 26th, when asked I could never explain it, I just wanted it. Fortunately, my amazing husband didn’t ask he just said if that is what you want then that you shall get - even though it was a Sunday. Yes, I was married on a Sunday. The day became even more special when I found out that one set of Aaron’s grandparents would have been married 50 years on June 26, 2005. But when that day rolled around there was one thing that I wanted to see - Aaron. Everyone will tell you I never cried one tear on that day but was VERY giddy and very much wanted to see my husband - to honor his only wish he didn’t see me that day until I walked down the aisle. Those who know me will laugh but the night before the wedding we enjoyed a trip to Cold Stone (yep ice cream on the night before my wedding), parted ways and didn’t see each other again until I walked with my Dad down the aisle toward Aaron.

How do I describe my husband - it is hard as he is all the things that I never thought I would find in a husband. He helps with everything, case in point this morning when I woke up he was stripping wall paper in the nursery. He knows I hate to grocery shop and he does almost all of the grocery shopping (and is even good at it); he used to do almost all of the cooking because I had an hour each way commute; if I am cleaning the house he pitches in and helps; I sort the laundry and put it away but he takes it up and down the flights of steps to do it and sooooo much more. The best thing about Aaron is he is my absolute best friend, I want to tell and show him things before others and we can spend a week on vacation and know when it needs to be just us or if we should do something alone. He understands girl time and is ok with me and my girlfriends having dinner and playing Wii until all hours of the night. We have so many inside jokes that we laugh all the time at home, and no matter how competitive I am when we play board games he is more than willing to go at it again until I win (he never lets me win and usually makes it more difficult for me to win) and the best thing about Aaron is that he gets me even when I switch gears in the middle of a sentence, he still is able to follow along usually! Aaron I love you more than anything in the world and I am so ready to start this journey of parenthood with you! (We started our official referral acceptance paperwork today!!!!!! By this time next week we will starting the final waiting stages!)

So I hope that you enjoyed our favorite picture from our day three years ago - never in a million years would either of us have guessed that this day would become so important to us and this date so etched as a part of us!

So I am going to get NOTHING and I mean NOTHING done this afternoon (and I had a list of things that I wanted to get done)….if you want to know why visit here:

http://twogiftsfromabove.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/surprise/

Yes you will need the password and no it is not the same as the one on this blog BUT if you leave a comment and ask I would be HAPPY as a lark to provide you with the password, provided I can verify you are who you say you are!!!!

I love to travel and having a spouse who loves to travel just seemed to be a must for me. I think of traveling to new places as an adventure, one I may never get to have again! So, for the first year Aaron and I knew each other we stuck with St. Louis and Chicago - neither too far away and we knew people in both places. When we got close to having been dating for a year, we decided that we needed to go somewhere fun where we both had never been - thus a trip to Memphis, TN in September 2004 and thus began our travel fun together - It was three years ago yesterday at about this time that Aaron and I had been on Maui, HI for about 12 hours and we were waiting for two separate planes to touch down with each carrying one of our families. We were going to be married in 3 days and we were enjoying Maui to the fullest before we spent the rest of the time with family (don’t get me wrong we loved seeing Maui with our families as well but when the count of people goes from 2 to 12 it gets a bit more difficult to do some things). After we were married we went to Kauai, HI and then back home again! In August of 2005 we went to Ok, Oklahoma - to pick up Nala, that trip was great! Then in March of 2006 we went off to Washington, DC together - it was Aaron’s first trip and just like visiting my second home for me! In the later part of 2006, we got to know Indianapolis, IN VERY well as that is where I received all of my infertility treatments. Then in late February early March 2007, we went to Anaheim, CA (and San Diego) for Aaron’s sister’s wedding and to see Disney and San Diego - I loved California! And then not that long ago we traveled to the Twin Cities in MN - and we loved that trip as well! I didn’t mention specifically all of our trips to Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati - as those are too numerous to count at this time! We have joked that we should keep a map with all of the states and countries we have been to together and see what we can get the count to before we die (which hopefully is not for a very long time).

So the other day I said to Aaron that I wanted one final weekend just the two of us in Chicago before the twins came home but that I was not sure how we would fit it in - he assures me that we will fit it in and we will get to see at least one Broadway show, eat at least two of our favorite restaurants and have one last window shop on Michigan Ave. - when he thinks we will do this I am not sure but I hope he is right! As this trip to Korea will have to count as our 2009 trip as I am guessing that we will not get down too quickly how to travel with two toddlers - though Korea will be our first foreign country together at least! (I am not even going to try to name all the places only one of us has been - that would take forever and both of us have been to other countries prior to meeting each other!) Oh yeah did I mention if Aaron passed his test - then we MAY also get to go to Seattle, WA this year - and that trip would be on his employer. Aaron would also get to go to Orlando, FL for some professional training and he is trying to figure out how he is going to make that trip without me - yeah NOT possible :)  - unless the twins are home and then he would be making BOTH trips by himself and I would be calling my mom or his mom, any long lost family member or the stranger down the street to help me with the twins while he was gone. Actually he says that if the twins are here he will wait until next year to get licensed as an associate - how sweet is that?

So I cannot wait to travel to Korea - and thinking back to what we were doing three years ago right now just makes me want to leave for Korea right now - I love traveling with my husband and I love to experience new things with him! What an amazing experience Korea will be with him (even if he wants NOTHING to do with being on a plane with me for 14 to 15 hours straight - he asked if we could sit on opposite ends of the plane, he knows I will get antsy - don’t sit still well, part of me thinks he is more worried about me on the plan than the twins)!

I have been waiting for Thursday for what seems like forever - I have been prepping and praying that after that day we would get our referral. Thanks to USCIS I am not sure when we will get to accept our referral for J and S - but they are still our referral! I have been researching how long various stages of the process take before we get to travel to South Korea, today I realized that for the most part the babies from the twins agency are ready about four to six weeks after I-600 approval - some a little faster and a few a little slower. The older babies were at the lower end of the spectrum, that is our babies. What makes me jealous is the people who received I-600 approval VERY quickly like in less than a week…I know that will not be the case for us, I think ours will be four to six weeks for approval of the I-600 that means it very well may be November before we travel if it is July before we are able to officially sign acceptance paperwork. I have been waiting this out pretty well, I think anyway, but I am guessing it is not going to be pretty any time soon. There is no chance that we will get to see our babies first birthday in August except in pictures, and I want to travel in October - I will be a basket case if we have not even come close to travel by October 31st and I am not sure I will be able to make it. Please those of you who had those amazingly long waits for travel help me here - I knew in late April when we said yes we would have to wait until October and that is OK but now I am afraid that it will be November when we travel or God forbid, December - I am not sure what I will do if my babies are not home for Christmas, a thought I have never even considered. Our social worker is betting on November travel, and she is usually pretty close. So help here would be greatly appreciated!

Music has always been VERY important to me. I could not love a song more than when it speaks to me and I have so many songs that speak to me but lately I have been reminded of just a few and even found a few new ones. Some examples of how music has to speak to me - Aaron and I’s first dance at our reception in IL - we listened to so many songs but I wanted the perfect one one that said all the right things, we narrowed it down to God Bless the Broken Road from Rascal Flatts (one of my previously mentioned favorite groups) and When God Made You by Newsong and Natalie Grant (two more amazing groups), Aaron will tell you I found the lyrics to each song and we listened a million times and when we finally made our choice it was because we just felt that song was us - we chose:

So recently I was listening to this song again and realized that in some round about way it works for this adoption as well…I love this song and so does Aaron and he is not a big music fan.

So then the other day I was watching a movie on TV I love and for some wierd reason do not yet own on DVD (probably because my husband is afraid he would be watching it all the time). I love the movie Raise Your Voice with Hillary Duff….actually I just absolutely love the song she sings at the end. It speaks to me - reminds me that my Grandma’s are up there watching me - at least I hope they can sometimes see and know I am ok - and maybe if they can make things just work out for me or at least put in a good word! And if they are watching, I will be someone they can be proud of! I miss them both so much, especially now when I know that they would both be so ready to spoil my children! I could see one of them making hats for them until there was never a moment they were hatless (who am I kidding she would be making them more than hats - they would be so set - she would love them more than me - and I LOVE to believe I was her favorite grandchild even though she only had three and would NEVER have chose a favorite, she loved us all the same) and my favorite memories of my other grandma include enough ice cream for ALL seventeen of her grandchildren, no matter how much they wanted and how much she loved all of us - and this Grandma would be so in love for so many reasons but I want to believe she would think S and J were special as this grandma was the girl half of boy/girl twins! I would have loved for her to share er experiences of being a twin with S and J and make them quilts just like the one she made me that has been a little too loved! So here is that song just because I thought you might like to hear it as well

Then there are the songs I just heard that speak to me. At Women of Faith I heard Nicole C Mullen sing a song called Black, White & Tan with her daughter - I fell in love with this song. I wanted to buy a CD with it on it, but none were at the conference and I have searched high and low for the whole song on You Tube or any Video source and I am having a hard time finding it - I have found parts of the song but you guys have to hear the whole song, so sorry this is NOT the whole song but here you go:

I think is more than enough music for today but below is the lyric for the whole Black, White and Tan song that I have fallen in love with (and so has Aaron) - and be sure there is more music coming

BLACK, WHITE and TAN

Mama looks like coffee,daddy looks like cream
Baby is a mocha drop,American dream
All the colors in the rainbow is in her family tree
Woven altogether in a paisley tapestry

She holds real tightly to her parents’ hands
Baby loves that woman,baby loves that man
And her soul gives a smile
‘Cause she understands
That love is black,white,tan
Yeah black,white,tan

Everyone is precious in the Father’s sight
It don’t matter red,or yellow,black or white
He just loves you ’cause he loves you
And I tell you this is true
You are not a color and the color is not you

Hold real tightly to your Daddy’s hand
Cause He loves that woman,He loves that man
And let your soul give a smile
Every once in a while
Let your soul give a smile
Every once in a while
Let your soul give a smile
Every once in a while

‘Cause love is black,white tan
Yeah i know that love is black,white,tan
Yes i know GOD’s love black,white,tan
A little girl will tell you
Black, White, Tan

I promised a list of funny things that happened on the WOF trip here are just a few:

1. I went with a very good friend of mine, Paula, we went with her church and they rented these charter buses to get us there (who am I kidding we paid for them with the tickets but they did arrange for the buses) a BIG plus for me. So we arrived on time to find we were leaving late but that was ok - Paula was able to eat her lunch then. So, this bus had a dvd player and small screens for all to watch the dvd. Now there was a very small baby on this bus but other than that the women were in their late 20’s to well I am not even going to venture a guess - many mothers and grandmothers were on the bus. Anyway, we asked what the movies were - we ended up watching the only movies available Princess Diaries and Princess Diaries II - shouldn’t it have been some great romantic comedy, all the kids and husbands were at home, therefore no one to complain?????? Oh well I love these movies and it appeared some had never seen them
2. So we arrive at the hotel in St. Louis where we would be staying. The leader goes in and comes out five to ten minutes later and says they did not have everything ready (even though the reservation was made a year ago) so we would all have to go in and wait in the lobby until they did. Ok no big deal - it was raining and so standing outside was not really an option. So we all (over 60 of us) file into the lobby and shortly the keys etc were ready so Paula and I got on an elevator that was not very big to only hear two women behind us go “We have to be on that elevator because she has our keys” they were referring to a woman already on the elevator. So the door closes and we hit the 5 button and NOTHING - we try hitting a few buttons - NOTHING. We then realize that the door is STUCK and we are not going anywhere. So the woman closest to the phone picks it up and informs whoever answers that we are stuck in the elevator and could they get us out. Sure the guy says and hangs up. Soon we hear keys and think we are about to be saved - but it is getting hot and at least one woman is not taking it very well - she is standing next to me and is quietly trying to stay clam and strong at the same time as she is crying and saying I feel like I am going to puke. Paula says a short prayer and we all say AMEN - the phone lady picks up the phone to see if we can get some more air - She talks to the same guy who answers and asks a few questions - the guy REFUSES to answer her questions until she tells him how many people are on the elevator (which at this point we are all there and there is nothing we can do to get off or get more on) she finally tells him 11 and he says well the limit is 10 - we did not see that posted ANYWHERE but that is ok we just want out. She keeps him on the phone until it is obvious that they really are trying to get us out (and by this time many women in the elevator have lost their cool and just want out) she asks if he could phone back shortly to let us know if the door will be open soon - he asks her the number of the room where she is calling from - she told him she didn’t have a number, she was calling from the elevator he said oh and hung up. Within a little while the door is FINALLY open and everyone is ok, but many would like to take the stairs - we quickly learn the stairs or on the outside of the building and have to be unlocked to get to them as well as they are very steep. Ok so point us to some different elevators - sorry there are none - what this hotel next to a convention center (not the one where WOF is but another one) only has two elevators that hold a total of 16 people and hundreds of rooms - really???? Seriously????? So we wait in line and hope beyond hope that we will just survive the weekend! We did and can now kinda laugh about the whole elevator issue -
3. So then we go to get back on the bus to go to WOF - and Paula and I are the first ones to the bus and the bus driver Art is talking to us. Paula and I tell him about Aaron and I’s adoption and we just chat at the bus door. As Paula and I head to our seats, he asks Paula if she is my mom - I couldn’t help it I broke out laughing - Paula has a pre-teen daughter and could be my mom if she had me VERY young! So the story started to spread amoung the women and Paula spent the whole weekend either being called MOM by me or having all her other friends ask her how her daughter was (and no they did not mean her pre-teen daughter - they meant me!) But I have to admit that one was not only funny but fun as well!
4. Oh yeah and Patsy Clairmont who is at least in her 60’s was talking about her iPhone and her BLOG- yes she blogs! I found it and even linked it to my google reader! Everyone there was laughing as one of the younger speakers was talking about how she did not understand technology - Patsy is my kind of woman and I want to be like her when I get to be her age!!! I am already more than half way there!

So that is the best of the funny things and the ones you didn’t have to be there for them to be funny, there were A LOT of those! Hope you all got at least a small laugh!