Shaileen is doing well

Shaileen was in surgery today for about 1 hour and 5 minutes getting her gallbladder taken out. Like I said in the last blog post she was nervous but excited to get it out at the same time. When the doctor came and talked to me he said that Shaileen had at least 4 huge gallstones the size of marbles and more that were smaller. After all of her surgeries she always struggles with nauseousness and oxygen. She was in the recovery room for almost 3 times longer than usual. I think I decided that she likes to get sick and have surgery just so she can get a new pair of socks. Anyways, she really is doing well and she should be out of work for a week or so. Thanks for everyone's support.

Surgery day

Today is the day that Shaileen went into surgery to have her gallbladder taken out. She is nervous but excited at the same time to get it out! We showed up at St. Marks hospital at 11:15am and she should have been back in surgery by now but we assume they are running just a bit late. Can't wait to see Shaileen back to her regular self.

Wolf Creek Weekend

We just had one of the funnest weekends we have had in a long time! The Cline side of the family got together and went up to Wolf Creek which is up Ogden Canyon for the weekend. We stayed in gigantic condos that sleep 8 comfortably with 2 floors. We even had two of those condos because of everyone that went. There were a total of 13 of us. We drove up there right after work and got there right about 6 PM. The drive up was absolutely beautiful because of all the leaves that are changing. That night we played a few games and sat around as a family and talked. The next morning all of the guys woke up and went golfing at the resort golf course. We woke up too early though because they would not let us on the golf course because of the frost so we got in the truck and drove around for about 30-45 minutes until it warmed up some. I played decent and had a couple of pars as well. Can't complain there. We got back and had breakfast and then drove down to Ogden city because there was a festival for kids that was going on. It was pretty fun to watch the kids. We then drove back up to the condo and Jason, Bret, Carson, DJ and I got ready and went and played Raquetball. It had been a long time since I have played raquetball and it was a blast. Later that night we all went and got in the hot tub as well. Yesterday morning we all got up and ate breakfast and got ready to leave. We went on a hike up powder mountain. It is the perfect time of year because of the leaves changing. We hiked most of the way but all of a sudden my ear felt like it was going to explode and I did not feel comfortable with going any further so Shaileen and I turned around and walked back down. I was bummed because it was supposed to be a good hike with some great views from the top. We just need to talk my parents into buying a 2nd house up there. I would go up all the time. It is just far enough to feel like you are getting away but not a long drive at all!

If you cant tell I am loving the new panorama feature on the new iphone update!

Utah State Fair 2012

Its that time of the year! This past week we went to the Utah State Fair. If you know us we absolutely love the fair and look forward to it every year. The atmosphere there is fun and the best part is people watching there. Shaileen told me the day before we went to the fair that she had never had a funnel cake! How was that not a qualifying question when I asked her to marry me? Anyhow, she got the funnel cake and she loved it. The only problem is the next day is when her Gallbladder problems arose! My favorite part of the fair is the photography section. Usually i put some of my photos into it but didn't this year. I love seeing the photos there because it gives me inspiration. I just have not gotten out lately enough and have lost my photography skill lately. That means I just need to get out more though!!! 

United Way Volunteering Day

We absolutely love volunteering. Luckily our work gives us many opportunities to volunteer in the community thoughout the year. Today was the Unitedway Day of Caring. We went up Millcreek Canyon to the boyscout camp areas. A huge group of 2nd graders from a school in West Valley came up. Questar put together a bunch of different stations from 100 yard dashes, dino ring toss, natural gas teaching and other fun ones. We were in charge of the fossil making. You would take a leaf and put it under a piece of paper and color on it real light and it would make it look like a fossil. It would teach them how fossils are made. It was real fun seeing the kids eyes light up when they would get it to finally work and look good! I had a bunch of fun with the kids and especially teasing them. I even got one kid to believe for a second that there was a mountain lion on the hill right next to us. We really love volunteering like I said earlier and look forward to doing more in the near future. We are also looking to volunteer with Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) too. We just need to look into how to get more into that! Now on the the part that everyone enjoys! THE PICTURES! ENJOY ~

Our adoption video

We were asked to write this blog and tell about the video we put together on our adoption profile. We are happy to share our video with others to not only spread the word of us adopting but also so others may take the idea and use it as well. There are so many ways we can find our child. We decided that we need to do as many things possible to get our names out there because our child's birth parents need to have the avenues to find us. There is only so much we can put on our profiles on itsaboutlove.org.  There are our birth parent letters, pictures, questions and answers and our contact us page! That is not much information for birth parents to look at. We tried to make our profile so it had as much information as possible on it. Pictures tell the most about us as a couple, so we put this video together to show more of our photos and put it together with one of our favorite songs. We had a failed placement happen about a month ago and the way our birth mother found us is through our pass-along cards. We don't know what is going to be our "pass-a-long" cards this time. Will it be our profile on the website, our posting on Facebook, our blog, having family and friends keeping ears open, or our YouTube video? We hope you enjoy the video. We feel it is important to say that we constantly have other hopeful adoptive couples in our prayers. What we are going through in this process is not easy and we pray that everyone's prayers get answered in the Lord's timeline. We pray that others will have constant strength to continue also. Our children our out there, stay strong and let's find them. 

Shaileen's project

Lately we have had trouble getting motivation to clean our house! Shaileen had the bright idea to build this cool thing for our wall! My favorite thing is the checklist for our chores! She did an excellent job and is so dang crafty!

One month...

I sit here in the untouched baby room thinking about how one month ago we received the worst news of our lives. It has been a month since we found our we were not going to bring precious little Sawyer home. Even though we are not the ones parenting him, I still have a great love for him. I think if him as my son. He was our son for the three months we were preparing for him. I hope that he will know one day of the extreme amount of love Kurt and I have for him still. He will always be a part of us.
I feel like we are doing pretty good. We still have our moments, especially me, but we are making it through as painful as it is.
Kurt has been my rock through this whole journey. He is so loving, kind, caring, and gentle with me. He reminds me everyday how strong we are and that we will make it through this. I feel empty though... There is a hole in my heart that can never be mended. With it is getting better, but we will never not feel that loss in our hearts. I am still so saddened everyday when I walk past his room knowing he is not in it. I know one day we will be blessed to be patents it is just hard waiting on the Lords timeline.
I want to say thank you to all of our friends and family for all of the support you have offered us this past month. This process would have been a lot more difficult without it. We truly appreciate all of the prayers in our behalf.
Last but not least I just want Kurt to know how much I love and appreciate him and all he does for me. I love him with all of my heart. If there is one thing I am certain of it is that my Heavenly Father blessed me with the MOST AMAZING husband on earth. Through all of the trials we have been through... I know we have lasted because if him. His incredible love and patience is what gets me through. Kurt I love you and I could not ask for a better Eternal companion than you. With all my heart... I LOVE YOU!!