Angel in the House

Last night when I was on my way into work I had the feeling that I should stop by and get a redbox movie so I could watch it on my last night of graveyards. I didn't know why I was supposed to stop though because I had stopped a couple of times before and nothing sounded good at the redbox. Over the past year or so I have been really trying to follow promptings. I sure am glad that I did. The movie that I ended up getting was called Angel in the House. It looked kinda weird but I would recommend it. It matched some of the exact feelings that Shaileen and I have gone through. It is a movie about adoption, fostercare and infertility and the feelings that come with it. At the beginning of the movie the couple were at a fertility doctors office and they were told that they just could not conceive on their own and IVF treatments are thousands and thousands of dollars, with the husbands job failing they just could not afford it. I remember those meetings with the fertility doctor and driving home with Shaileen sad and frustrated because it seemed like we were wasting our time and money. It seemed as if thousands and thousands of dollars were being washed down the drain. Another thing was they were went to a fostercare kind of facility and the worker asked them if they had any of their OWN children. You could tell it hurt the wife deeply. There have been several times where people have asked us not knowing if we had children of our own or when we were going to try to have children. People do not mean to hurt but it is sometimes hard to hear from others. The main thing that hit me during this movie though is when the little boy in the movie said "The only way to be happy is to connect with the present." How true is this statement? We can only handle what is in front of us and not what is behind us. I need to be thankful for what I have. Yes, we have had failed adoption placements in the past but I need to think about and be thankful for the things I do have. The thing that I am most thankful for is Shaileen. She is perfect! As cheesy as it sounds, she completes me. I cannot wait to see her as a Mother. I realize that the best thing we can do right now is become as close as we can as husband and wife and love each other more and more. I read somewhere once that the most important thing a father can do for his children is love their mother. That I can do! Without giving away too much in the movie it also taught me that we can learn from our failed adoption placements. I have already learned so much. I have learned how much I can love our future child and how immediate it is. When we had Karder for those 24 hours I felt a small portion of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. I look forward to having that feeling again. Yes, I miss Sawyer and Karder so much that I cannot explain it but I know that Heavenly Father has our future in his hands.

Also, Shaileen posted this photo of Sawyer and Karder that I just had to share. I can't wait to see her as a mom. She is going to be the best! I love you babe!

MOVING

It is official! We received an offer on our house this past Saturday. We accepted the offer and are currently under contract to sell and to also buy the other house that we posted about recently. We are excited to move and have something new in our lives but are not excited about the thought of moving. We are still about a month away until we move but a couple of the rooms in our house are already packed up and ready to go. When it is time to finally move we may be asking for a little bit of help to make it as quick and painless as possible.

4 Year Wedding Anniversary

I first off have to say that I am the luckiest man on earth. The reason is I am married to my best friend. These last 4 years have been the best of my life easily. Shaileen has made our marriage so wonderful and perfect. She is the most loving, fun, caring person I know. She is going to make the best mother one day. I cannot wait for that day The coolest thing is we have eternity to go. Shaileen I love you!

Vegas trip April 12-14 2013

While we were at work on Friday April 12th we both turned to each other and said that we needed to get out of town. We left quick and drove down to Las Vegas. As a kid I remember the drive to Vegas being the longest trip ever but it was a nice drive. We left around 2pm and showed up there around 7ish Vegas time. Some of the best times I have ever had with Shaileen is on long drives. Just sitting and talking is the best and what is even better is when we find a song that we can jam to!

It was incredible going from 40 degree weather to 85 degree weather even at 7ish in Vegas!

We decided to stay at the Stratosphere because they had pretty good rates and we knew it was a decent hotel because we stayed there about 2 years ago.

Right after we got there we jumped on the bus and drove up the strip to the Flamingo because we wanted to see the show Legends again. We saaw it a couple of years ago and loved it. It even came with a buffet included in the price.

After the show we were pretty tired so we got on the bus and drove back to the hotel to get some good sleep so we could really enjoy the next day. Here is a photo of Shaileen in front of the bus stop.

When we got back my stye was really bothering me and I had it for about 1 1/2 weeks by then so I decided that it was time to pop it. Just look at it, can you blame me. You can see the video below of my trying to pop it. the only thing is that it was a waste because I went to the doctor the following Monday and had it cut out of my eye anyways. OUCH

If you are queazy at all iIwould not recommend watching this.

We woke up the next morning bright and early and it was absolutely beautiful. This is our view from the 20th floor of the hotel.

We went to check out the 1/2 price ticket kiosks that they have and saw that the America's Got Talent show was there. It was a pretty easy choice, mostly because some of the other shows were way out priced. We were really pleased with the show.

The last couple of times that we have gone to Vegas we have made it a tradition to wake up Sunday morning and go to the brunch at Harrahs hotel and Casino. It was really good but I am not sure a buffet was the best idea with a 6 hour drive ahead of us. HAHA

It was a really nice get away even though it was really quick. We decided that we needed to take advantage of the time that we are able to make impulsive decisions to leave town on a whim.

Adoption Panel April 19, 2013

This past Friday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend an adoption panel that was put on by Families Supporting Adoption. We look forward to these get togethers so much because there are other people there that are in the same shoes as us as hopeful adoptive parents. The thing I like the most about these monthly get togethers though is I want to learn as much as I possibly can about being the best parent I possibly can. I know that I will never be fully prepared when we are chosen but why not be prepared with the most knowledge as we can. At this panel there was a wide variety of panel members that were from 2 families. There were adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, birth mothers, and adopted adults. These families this past weekend reinstated my testimony of adoption in my heart.and how it is such a great thing. The love that each of these families had for each other was incredible on both the adoptive family side and the birth parent side. This panel brought back some great memories of the adoption classes that we were required to take over a 2 day period during our approval process. Before these classes we were not sure what we thought about the idea of open adoption and were sort of against it too. However, after going to listen to the panels of people it changed our heart completely on the thoughts of open adoption. The love we gained for expecting/birth parents grew indefinitely. If you ever have the opportunity of going to one of these panels I would definately recommend it. They are open to anyone to go. The idea that lots of people have with adoption is not accurate, just like LDS Family Service's motto says and it is so true is that. Adoption- Its about Love. How true is that? Expecting parents place their children out of love and hopeful adoptive parents are trying to grow their families out of love as well. I love adoption and am so thankful for it, without it we would never have the opportunity to grow our family.

Hoping to sell our house

These past 5 or so days have been absolutely crazy. As you probably know from our previous post our house is up for sale. People have been coming to our house nonstop to check it out. Approximately 35 people have come in that short period of time. It is crazy how the market is on the sellers side right now completely. The only issue is our house is on a busy street which is causing it so some people are not interested. We are just wanting someone to buy our house so we can move to the house we have an accepted offer on, we just have a condition on the purchase of that property that we need to sell ours first. The home we are hopefully going to move into is awesome. Here are some photos.

 

 

It is a 3203 sq ft home! it is huge, about 2200 is finished and has an unfinished basement but we can use that for some great storage! Another plus is it is only about 1 street away from the man made lake. We can't wait and hope that we are able to sell our home quick! Wish us luck!-

House is for sale

Today we put out home on the market because we put an offer on another house. It is crazy to think it has been 3 years already that we have been in this house. I am not going to lie and say that it was kind of a pain getting the house ready but it is spotless currently. We hope we get a quick high offer so we can move forward with the other house in Stansbury Park. Wish us luck