Have you missed us?

Happy Memorial Day!

It seems a big of an oxymoron to say 'Happy' Memorial Day when the purpose of the day is to remember those American men and women who lost their lives in services to our country.

I know that it has been a long time since I posted an update. Sorry about that....here is an update on what we have been doing the last 5 months

Kevin: Work and School.

As of today he has 2 months and 9 days left until his last class ends. He has been granted the opportunity to participate in summer commencement in Denver, CO, on July 30. We are both looking forward to the end of his classes and a couple of days in a new city. This will be our first visit to Colorado so we are looking forward to checking another state off of our bucket list!

Tessa: Work, CASA, Work and family

I accepted a new position (with the same company) back in February. It was a big change for me but I LOVE it! There are 2 best parts about it: 1) Every day is a little bit different. I no longer do the same thing day in and day out. 2) I get to work with coding information again. Those of you who have known me for a long time know that I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to diagnosis and procedure codes. 

In February I also accepted a second CASA case. Since confidentiality is a big part of my CASA work I really can't say anything more except to say that it has taken more time than my other cases have because there are 3 children involved in this one instead of just one like my other two cases were.

Lastly, we finally got my mom and brother moved to a new apartment here in the same town where we live so that I can help out with their needs more easily. It is still a work in progress to get them settled in.

We have not taken any trips since last September. We do hope to get to Texas and possibly Florida this year but we are waiting for Kevin to get done with school. We are trying to save our time off from work, for the most part, so that if we are chosen as a family for a baby that we will have some paid time to take off work to spend with a new baby.

We have done some landscaping here at the house this weekend. We built up our flower beds and bought some plants to plant. I got some purple impatiens and a Miss Kim Lilac bush. There will be more to come but for now that is all I have time to plant.

We had some new pictures taken a few weeks ago so here are a couple of them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, we have enjoyed an extended autumn around these parts - sporadically anyway - until today. Temps have started dropping and we are expecting Winter Storm Goliath to hit us in the middle of the night tonight through early Tuesday morning. To say that I'm not excited would be the biggest understatement of the day!

In other news, we have enjoyed several days off for the Christmas holiday. We got to spend time with all of our parents and all of our siblings plus much of my (Tessa's) extended family. We laughed - A LOT - and ate some really great food (in moderation, of course). We cooked a turkey and a few fixings on Christmas Day. We brined the turkey which we both agree made it really nummy. On Christmas morning I got up and made homemade noodles to have for lunch and they were really good, too! I've been making noodles since I was a little girl, old enough to help unroll the handcut noodles that my mom and grandma were making. Now I use a noodle cutter instead of a knife but the outcome is the same! I look forward to teaching my kids this skill one day in the future.

We have work this week (Monday through Thursday) and then we have Friday off for the New Year's holiday. We plan to spend Thursday evening with some friends nearby celebrating and welcoming in the New Year in style.

Looking back over the last few days we both agree that while we have enjoyed getting gifts it is a much greater joy being able to give gifts to our friends and family. We hope that no matter how you have spent the last few days that you have experienced the joy that comes from doing something kind for someone else.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and many blessings to you and your family for 2016!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, fall fell hard around these parts last week and ushered  in winter a little sooner than we would have liked. An early winter storm dropped 6-7" of snow on us on 11/20/15. Thankfully, the temps warmed up the next couple of days and precipitation turned back into rain and now most of the snow is gone!

This time of year we enjoy taking the opportunities that our community provides for various cultural and arts events - concerts and plays and other things like that. I have always wanted to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert and this year Kevin bought us tickets to go so we enjoyed that event last week, too!

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends. On Thanksgiving Day we visited with some friends who became family to me over twenty years ago. They loved me and welcomed me into their family (which now numbers well over 50 in just 3 generations!) and, when we married, Kevin also become just another one of the family.

On Friday we did just a little bit of shopping but mostly we just went to the pet store for a few of their sales on our essential pet items (cat litter, cat food, Greenies for Jack and a new toy and sweater for Jack) and then we went downtown to see Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream as another of our Thanksgiving traditions. It was a great show! I've seen several of them over the years and this one is way up on the list as one of my favorites.

Today, my mom and brother came over to 'do Thanksgiving' with us. Instead of doing a big meal (since we all had fairly big meals on Thursday) we just had some small finger foods and snack items while we watched Christmas movies. I'll plan to do the whole turkey and noodles and stuff on Christmas this year for all of us.

We have had some opportunities this fall for our profile to be presented to expectant families who are considering placing their babies for adoption. We have been presented 5 times and all 5 times other families were chosen. Each time gets a little bit harder to be told 'no' but we continue pressing forward - waiting and praying for the child(ren) that will one day be ours.

This holiday season seems different from previous years. Even though we are adults now we do still make "Christmas Lists" for our families with whom we exchange gifts. In years past we have always had a few things that we would really like to have, which someone else could actually buy for us. This year, these things are eluding us as the one thing that we both so desperately want cannot be bought. We feel humbled and even a little bit guilty that the things we we want most of all is for another family to make an enormous sacrifice by choosing adoption for their child and to choose us as his/her/their adoptive family.

We don't know what the future holds. I'm not sure that I really want to know until it happens. I do know that whatever happens will, in the long run, be a very good thing. Even if it doesn't look like the picture that we have in our heads, we know that it will be good.

Until next time!

Football, Blankets, and Work

In the weeks since my last update Iowa has quietly started to close the door on summer and open the window to autumn. After the Iowa State Fair we had another warm snap or two and we did turn the central air back on a time or two for a day or two but for now we are enjoying open windows and warm blankets, if needed.

Work has picked up some for both of us. Kevin is working a little overtime at our regular job and we have picked up a couple of part-time cleaning gigs. Idle hands are the devil's workshop and all of that...

The weekend before Labor Day we were able to celebrate with my family as my uncle turned 70. We always have a great time together and this was no exception. Over the holiday weekend we took a vacation down to my old stomping grounds in South Carolina and then up to North Carolina to visit my dear friend and her family for a few days. It's always good to get to spend quality time with those we love.

Kevin is happy that the Gators are doing well so far this season and the Cowboys are holding their own as well. I don't follow football very much but I'm glad to be a Hawkeye fan when the mood strikes me.

We are probably done traveling for this year unless we are chosen to parent a new baby before the year is over. We anxiously await that phone call one day and hope it comes soon.

Until then - enjoy autumn wherever you are!

This photo is of me and my friend's new daughter before we left to come home from vacation. 

She's a precious little thing and I love her, and her parents, soooo much!

August Update

We have been having a great summer so far! This year has been quite different from last year as I (Tessa) have not had to work any overtime like I did last year. I have been enjoying a lot of sunshine (with sunblock and protective clothing, of course) and warm weather (which is MUCH preferred over cold weather!)

In early August I attended my hometown's annual festivities, Old Settlers, and got to see many friends and family that day. Kevin had homework to do that day so he stayed home with the pets. I had a great time fellowshipping with my family and watching my dad and uncles in the parade on their class reunion floats and in the color guard. We are looking forward to another gathering with my mom's family at the end of the month to celebrate my uncle's birthday as well as the end of summer.

Last week we attended the Iowa State Fair one night and while we were there we got to go to the For King and Country/Casting Crowns concert. It is always an awesome experience to worship in such a large group in the open air.  Wee also enjoyed a few of our fair favorites-- the cheese corn brat, the walking taco, and the deep fried snickers. Thankfully, all of the walking around does tend to burn off the extra calories!

This weekend, I had the privilege of attending a baby shower for one of my friends who adopted her first baby in July. After many years of marriage and primary infertility and waiting to be chosen by a birth family they saw their dream come true and we are so happy for them. She had a lovely shower and received many great gifts. I even got a couple of good ideas from her! Instead of cards that will just get put in a box and one day probably thrown in the recycle bin they asked everyone to bring a signed children's book along with their gift. If you think about it, you'll spend about the same on a book as you would on a card but the book serves dual purposes and lasts longer.

While we rejoice with our friends as their families grow - especially those friends who have walked the paths we have walked of infertility and loss with grief and sorrow - we do still long for and hope for the day when we will be granted the privilege of parenting children here on Earth. We would again ask that if you, or someone you know, is pregnant and in a position of considering placing a child for adoption that you will consider us and reach out.

I continue my volunteer work with CASA and my first case is likely going to be ending soon so I am awaiting a new case assignment while I finish out the final steps of my first case. These cases can be so heartbreaking but the work is so rewarding at the same time.

Getting to Know Us:
If you could meet any celebrity, who would you want to meet and why?
Tessa: I would want to meet Julie Andrews. She is so classy and elegant and when she was able to still sing she had the most beautiful singing voice.
Kevin: I would want to meet Paul McCartney. I would love to hear more about what it was like being a Beatle and what it was like to know the other Beatles who have already passed away.

Happy July!

Once again time has gotten away from me.
Summer is my absolute favorite time of year so I have been enjoying as much time as I can outside and enjoying the sun.

So, let me think what has been going on since my last post...

Kevin finished another class at school and had 12 days off over the Independence Day holiday and has now started another class. I am most looking forward to him finishing his degree in about a year's time! He continues to do well in his school work.

I am just coming to the end of my mid-year peak season at work and the great news about that is that we got through this season without having to work any overtime. I have also been busy with my volunteer activities as a CASA.

For Father's Day in June my dad and his wife came to town and we surprised him with a ride on the train up in Boone. It was a warm day but a very scenic ride and then we had supper downtown at Buzzard Billy's.

Over the 4th of July weekend we had the blessing of traveling to Texas to see Kevin's sister and her family. We watched our nephew play baseball and BBQ'd with the neighborhood on the holiday. We enjoyed some great food, a lot of good company, and lots of laughs, too.

We have been rejoicing recently with the news of several births, adoptions, and announcements of friends who will be growing their families by 2 new feet in the next several months. We are so very happy for all of our friends and we are looking forward to the hope of being chosen to be parents one day...hopefully soon.


This picture is from Independence Day - Happy Birthday, America!

May update

Whew! I'm just going to get this in under the wire! My apologies - I did not mean to neglect posting for 6 weeks. Somehow, time just got away from me.

May is always a busy month for us. My dad and I both have birthdays, Mother's Day, several graduations, and then Memorial Day. So, let me see if I can remember what we have been up to the last 6 weeks...

Kevin finished his second class in his Master's Degree (with 100%, mind you, Woo-Hoo!) and started his third class (which is going well). School does take up a majority of his non-work hours but it appears to be paying off so we just make adjustments as needed and I get some Tessa-time a little more often.

We were able to finish the project of installing new interior doors in our house. Out with the 1990s honey oak and faux brass and in with the white 6-panel and brushed nickel. I'm one happy homeowner! We are still working on getting the trim put back up because we had to paint it with chalk paint since it was finished with varnish and polyeurathane before but we did 2 rooms yesterday and I'm going to try to get two more done today.

We  celebrated my birthday with a day off work, lunch out, and an I-Cubs game in the afternoon. It was cold (only in the 50s) and they lost but it was still nice to spend the day with Kevin just doing things we like to do.

Amid all of the parties and celebrations in May we were saddened when a neighbor boy was killed in a car accident the day before Mother's Day. It hit our whole neighborhood pretty hard. It's not supposed to be like that  - parents aren't supposed to outlive their children.We continue to pray for the parents and older siblings of the boy.

And now for the getting to know us part of the post:
1) My favorite class in high school was ? and Why?
Tessa: Spanish!! I loved learning a new language. It actually made English make more sense as far as sentence structure and grammer. I do still speak and read Spanish although I am not as fluent as I used to be.
Kevin: Technical Drawing (like Drafting). I enjoyed the hands-on aspect of the class. It was a chance for me to express my creativity.

2)  A hobby or sport that I have always wanted to try is_____.
Tessa: Para-sailing, hang-gliding, or sky-diving. Some of my favorite dreams were ones in which I was flying freely through the air.
Kevin: I would like to learn to play guitar. I took a few lessons many years ago but I didn't stick with it and that is something that I think I would enjoy.

Until next time...

Kevin and Tessa