We had an awesome three day weekend! Because Chris had been working like crazy the week before to get a project out the door, on Saturday he wanted to make sure that both kids got to do something they really wanted to do. Naturally, Owen wanted to go fishing, so they got up at 5 am so they could be on the lake at 6 when the fish started biting! Insane! They caught lots of fish and had a blast. Ava wanted to go the zoo. There is this awesome free zoo and arboretum down in the cities. So we hoofed it down. It was about 93 degrees, and apparently, most of the people in the metro decided that this would be a good day for the zoo! We ended up parking what seemed like a million miles away. There were people everywhere! Imagine a couple of thousand people (this is a small zoo, thus part of the reason it is free!) intense heat and enclosed areas! Maybe not the greatest smelling event we have ever done, but it was still awesome! They have this butterfly house that you walk through and the butterflies are amazingly beautiful. All sorts that would never survive typically where we live, and they land on you, which the kids think is
the coolest thing ever. I could go on and on about it, but I won't. We had church on Sunday and then relaxed the rest of the day and fireworks at night. The fireworks were a huge hit with our family. Owen asked us "What is in the fireworks that makes them explode with color like that?" What? You are three years old! I didn't even think a three year old would ever ponder that question! Of course, I didn't know the answer but I did know that the Chinese invented them, so I told him that and that we would look it up on google on what makes fireworks and all of the colors, etc.

On Monday I had to go into the clinic. Last Wednesday, I had a hang nail, which I proceeded to pull, like I have for countless of years before. It got a little red like it usually does, but then it continued to get worse. The red spread down onto the finger and my finger started swelling. It felt like the skin was stretched to the max and that my finger was going to explode. This never happened before all those times I pulled a hang nail! My finger was normal finger color until you got to the top inch which is this horrible, bright red looking color. My hubby said, it definitely looks worse today you should go in. When that comes from Chris, I know he is concerned- he rarely goes into the clinic or feels the need to, so I knew he was worried for me! When my doctor saw it, she said "Wow". And then proceeded to tell me that I would be given a very serious antibiotic, which I had to take 4x a day. I have never, in my life been given an antibiotic that I had to take 4x a day! And then she said, and I quote, "A lot of times, the antibiotic isn't enough, and you may have to come in to get it lanced. Just so you are prepared It hurts a lot." I am so not excited for that possibility, words are not enough to explain it! I am praying a ton that I don't have to go in and get my finger cut open and the pus squeezed out.

Switching gears to our adoption (like that segue?- from pus to babies!) Our caseworker told us that they have quite a few completed adoptions waiting for travel, so more referrals haven't come quickly, but she thinks that we will get our referrals soon. I am way super excited, and a little impatient too. When we were at the zoo there was a ton of adorable african-american babies and I smiled every time I saw them. It just made me think of our children and that someday, we will go to the zoo together and be a family. It also made me get a couple of tears thinking of them, but I will be the first to admit that I am a huge cry-baby. I even cry on disney movies. I can't help it. I took Ava to the Charlotte's Web movie with real people, and when Charlotte died, I was bawling. I turned to Ava and told her that it was okay to cry at movies, and she told me that she was completely fine and not crying at all! Anyway, back to the adoption. Our hope is that we will get our referrals in July, and then travel November or December. I am hoping above hope that this is realistic. Repeat- God's timing, not mine! (But our babies for Christmas sounds like the ultimate present!) I have done good on not buying anything else but the bibs for them, but it is getting harder to stick to my resolution! I did find some material in my closet that I bought last year at the after Thanksgiving sale. The fabric store sells their snuggle flannel really cheap then, so I bought girl fabric and boy fabric, thinking that I would make Ava and Owen a blanket, even though neither one of them needed another blanekt. Then I put it in my closet and forgot about it until a few days ago. Now I have fabric to make both of our babies blankets! Hopefully that will get done this week. The kids have tried to give me ideas on what kind of a design I should do- they are quite elaborate! I think it will just simply be one pattern on one side, and another on the other, simple is good! Ava really wants us to by those snugglies right now. We do plan on getting those, you know what I am talking about, the little blanket with an animal head of some sort attached to the top? We plan on sleeping with them so they smell like us so the kids can always have our scent, but I am afraid if we get them now and sleep with them, they will end up smelling like sweat by the time we get our babies, and that is not what we are going for! I can guarantee that once we know how old our children are and how big, I will go into mommy overdrive and start getting things ready for them! In the mean time, I am stuck in that limbo where I want to go into mommy overdrive, but it just doesn't make sense yet. Soon, soon!