Everywhere I look...ADOPTION!

You know how anytime you get a new car/purse/pair of shoes you begin to see them EVERYWHERE you see after you get them? Well, recently I have been noticing adoption everywhere I turn!

For example, on New Years Day we went to see, "Did You Hear About The Morgans?".Without giving anything away, someone at the end of the movie adopts internationally! (It is a really cute movie BTW)

And last weekend, we watched "Baby Mama" with our friends the Hodges (who recently found out they were pregnant!:)) I have seen this movie 3 times and never noticed it has an alternate ending. In the alternate ending, Tina Fay's character adopts! (In my opinion, the alternate ending is much better.)

And this issue of "Babytalk" magazine has been all over my office. We give one to each pregnant women at her first appointment. I found our this week that the 2009 cover winner was a little boy adopted from Ethiopia!

I am loving all this attention about adoption!

Time to say goodbye....

Brian and I have made a commitment that we are going to try and be healthier this year, spiritually, physically, mentally and financially. I am a diet soft drink drinker. Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper, Diet Pepsi, Coke Zero...it doesn't matter.

Recently it has gotten a little out of control. Over the last couple of weeks there have been days when I realized that I have only had 1-2 glasses of water! That is crazy! So I figure I tell my pregnant patients everyday that they need to limit their caffeine intake. I mean, I am "paper pregnant" and I think it is a good idea to just give it up!

So here I am, on my second day free from diet drinks! We'll see how this goes the first time I eat pizza.....or hamburgers....or Mexican. (Is it even legal to eat those foods without pop!:))

Oh wait! Does this mean no more Sonic! AHHHHHH!

Catching up on a little reading...

One of my goals for this new year is to read at least 3 books a month. I LOVE to read but usually do not make it a priority. This year I am planning the three books being from 3 categories.

The first category is spiritual. Brian is constantly reading books in this category and talking about them and it is about time I catch up. My first pick is "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a relentless God", by Frances Chan. In the book, Chan describes at length the sorry state of "lukewarm" Christians who strive for a life characterized by control, safety and an absence of suffering. In stark contrast, the book offers real-life accounts of believers who have given all-time, money, health, even their lives-in obedience to Christ's call.

The 2nd category is parenting. I have never been a parent before, so I need all the advice I can get! :)My first pick is "I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla", by Marquerite A. Wright. It is a book that teaches parents of black and biracial children to reduce racism's impact on their development.

The 3rd category is fiction. I figure I had better read for enjoyment now because in a few months, Dr. Suess and The Little Critter will be the books I'll be reading! The first book is "Plain Truth", by Jodi Picoult.
It is about an Amish girl accused of murder and her lawyer who volunteers to be her guardian and spends time getting to know her in her world. I picked this one because it was on my mom's self at her house during the blizzard and I didn't have anything else to read!

I'll let you guys know how the books are. If you have any suggestions for my next picks, let me know!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy BrIaN!

Happy 29th Birthday Brian! To the best husband, son, uncle, youth minister, father-to-be, and friend. Hope your day was fabulous!

3 months

3 months on the waiting list! (Well, 3 months and one day to be exact.) The beginning of the month flew by and I thought that maybe I was getting the hang of this waiting thing! But the last couple of weeks I find myself thinking how different and wonderful things will be when he is here. I have been thinking about next Christmas full of toys. I have been thinking that next year on Jan. 7th we will be celebrating an Ethiopian Christmas with him! I have been thinking about him playing the in the snow. I have been thinking about a finished nursery with a little boy in it.

We are unofficially 9th on the waiting list for a boy according to the F.B.I. list. I received an email from our caseworker Mary this week letting us know that the average wait time is about 7.2 months. I find myself already stalking the F.B.I list and hoping that by some wonderful miracle, our referral will defy the odds and happen in 3 months and 1 day (or whatever day it is)!:)

But 3 months is 3 months closer than we were 3 months ago!

On the first day of Christmas...(2 days later)

What a great and awesome Christmas. I've got the Christmas is over blues. Counting down the days until Christmas 2010! Luckily January is a busy months for us and there is a lot to look forward to! Instead of write what we did on Christmas day, I thought I would show you. (Warning there are a lot of pictures !)

Christmas morning at mom and dad's.

Brian's Sports Illustrated OU frame!

Lauren wanted "Baby Mama", not "Mama Mia". My mom got the 2 confused, but we made a Wal-mart trip last minute to fix it!

Video camera! Big surprise and so excited!

Mom and Dad

Traditional Christmas breakfast! YUM!

Brian's parents driveway was blocked with snow, but nothing would stop Christmas!

Ralph saves the day!

Looks like someone has been good!


Anna

Jace loved his hat.

The girls are patiently waiting for the kids to finish opening so they could start!

Carson, aka Mr.. Photogenic

Ashlyn's special gift for her BFF/cousin Carson, homemade bookmarks. She was so proud.

Baby Plumb got gifts too!

"It's like a million dollars!" Ashia's reaction to 50 $1 bills was priceless.

Mayhem:)

Baby Plumb really made a killing!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It is such a great time to remember the birth of a son who came to this earth and sacrificed his life for our eternal happiness. Hope you take this time to count all your blessings, both little and small.

2nd Day of Christmas.. Christmas Eve

Oklahoma Blizzard 2009 has definitely put a cramp in our Christmas Eve plans. First time EVER that I won't be going to my Grandparents house on Christmas Eve!:( No Christmas Eve party at the Puckett's house.:( But we did get to enjoy a day of relaxation at my parents house.

Hoping that the things clear enough tomorrow to get out and keep our Christmas plans! Wishing every one a Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

3rd day of Christmas...

Every year since I was little, my family has had a our own little Christmas party. We cook TONS of our favorite junk food, play games, and watch a movie. Yesterday night we started off with buffalo chicken dip (which is easy and amazing! if you ever need a quick party recipe, you need this one), sausage balls, cheese dippers, chicken wings... the list goes on. We did add a veggie tray just to make ourselves feel a little better.:) Lauren and Mark Mom and Dad

The Plumb's

The movie this year was Four Christmases which is such a funny movie. I also got to open up an early Christmas gift. One things you may not know about me is that I love to play games. We have quite a collection at home. My sister bought me a new game, True Colors, that we played last night. It was great for a lot of laughs!

Another tradition that we have is drawing names and exchanging a gift. Usually we each buy an ornament that reminds us of the person that we drew. This year we changes things up a bit and exchanges pajama bottoms. I was extra excited because these pajama pants were long! :) No high waters for me!!!!

Dad and his polar bears

4th day of Christmas...

Tonight we met up with some friends and went snow tubing at the Bricktown ballpark. We have been wanting to go for years and were so glad our friend Misti got things together!

Getting ready for some tubing!

The boys

The girls

We really had such a great time! Hopefully we will have some real snow here this week! "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas"!

5th day of Christmas...

Last night my amazing sister-in-law had a wonderful Christmas idea for her 4 girls and we were able to be apart of it. They all watched Polar Express the movie yesterday afternoon. Last night, the girls were put to bed and my brother-in-law got them up for a trip on the "Polar Express". They stayed in their pajama's and had hot cocoa and cookies in the car and drove around looking at Christmas lights. How much fun is that! We were a surprise at the end of the drive. They got here late and got to spend the night! It was so much fun seeing how excited they were telling us about the whole night.

Did I mention they were were footie pajamas?!?! My favorite!!!

When the girls got here, we made an Elf Yourself video with their faces.. They laughed for 15 minutes straight! It was hilarious!

The Polar Express Night was such a great idea! I am definatley stealing this idea when baby Plumb gets here!