Profile Pictures...again

At the beginning of the month I received an e-mail from our adoption agency asking for new pictures for our profile.  We have been with them for a year now and they wanted to freshen up our profile.  This is understandable, but it still made me cringe.  It was so hard to get enough good photos last time, I did not look forward to trying it again, especially because when I got the e-mail Nathan was still spending all his available time in the fields helping with planting.  But they finished last week and we've been able to slip in a few photo shoots and I mailed off the new pictures yesterday.

The setting in this picture is Nathan's parents' backyard by the creek and I think it's a lovely place for a photo.

This was taken at my parents' house after our nephew's baptism.  I believe the phrase I used for Nathan's hair is "a little overwhelming."  But it's a good picture.  By the way, you can't tell, but I'm wearing a really cute dress in this...just saying.

I love this one.  It's just really good.  I don't remember why I decided cartoon character T-shirts was a good idea, but I still think so.

We took these last ones yesterday at my Mom and Dad's.  I think they're supercute.

Yep, we even had a wardrobe change yesterday.  There are several of us in our blue and green and I love them all, but this might be the best one.

Nathan really wanted a picture of us in front of one of his Dad's tractors.  We took two and this is definitely the better picture.

I think I sent more than one picture of each set except the first one.  I hope these work for the agency and I also hope they retain some of the older ones.  There were one or two that we were really good.

Also, I will post soon about having one year in with the agency and how we are doing with that, I just haven't worked up the nerve yet.

Shh...I'm Sporcle-ing...

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Eric, I have located what is officially the Internet's greatest source of time-wasting entertainment.  It's called Sporcle.  It is nothing but hours' worth of general knowledge and specialized tests and quizzes...I love it.

The Little Dark Knight

No, Nathan and I haven't heard anything about an adoption yet, but I've been wondering lately what kind of parent I want to be...or even will be.  I had a funny experience this weekend that kind of showed me what I would like to be as a parent.


Nathan and I stopped at Casey's yesterday on the way home from my mom and dad's house.  We ran in to get a few things and while we were standing in line, I noticed a father with a group of children, one of the little boys (he might have been 6 or 7) in the group stood out.  He was wearing a full Batman Dark Knight costume.  He had the little hood with the spikes and everything.  He was too cute.  It didn't look exactly like this, but close enough.

As we stood there, the Dad stepped out of line and went to get something from a shelf and the child followed him.  The Dad turned part way around and pointed back to the line and said "Go keep the peace over there, Dark Knight."  I had the prefect visual of this kid not wanting to leave the house in anything but his Dark Knight costume and it struck me as a very loving gesture of his father to let him and then to kind of play along.  Even though it may have actually come after hours of crying and temper tantrums.  I don't know why, but this really spoke to me.  In an "it's not a big deal so don't sweat it" sort of way.

The Book of Love

I watched the last few epidodes of Scrubs on Netflix yesterday.  I love the last scene and the song they worked in, The Book of Love, by Peter Gabriel.  It is amazing.  I have been singing it all day.

Incidently, if you want to watch the actual clip from Scrubs, it's on YouTube.

What have I been up to?

I know...it's been a while...again.

The only excuse I have is that my life really isn't all that exciting right now.  We are in the holding pattern of waiting for placement with the adoption and other than that, I mostly just work.

There are a few exceptions.  The week of my birthday in May I took one of my guaranteed weeks of vacation.  I used almost all of it to visit my little sister Anne in Maryland and New Jersey.

And look who showed up to hang out with us for the weekend...

Elizabeth!!!

We had a great time.  We went to New York City and saw Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

I don't know if this is just me, but I had absolutely no desire to get off the boat and walk around on Liberty Island.  But it was very important to me to see the statue from the water, the way it was meant to be seen.

I went to a couple of Anne's classes in Delaware with her.  We went to Philadelphia so that I could see my very good friend, who has lived there for a little while now, and we wandered around the historical areas.

This is Anne, Elizabeth and Alexandra in Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in the nation.  I love the carriage road running through it.

 

This is Benjamin Franklin's grave in a cemetery in Philadelphia.

We hung out in Maryland, which is one of my top 3 favorite states in the country, so it was very nice to be back there.

And, one of the best things about my trip, I met him...

my nephew Brian!  Anne and I drove from her school in Delaware to Virginia one day just so I could meet him.  He is super cute!  This also means we got to spend a few hours with Nate and Alicia.

Okay so this is a picture of Nate and Anne.  Sorry, Alicia, I don't think I got a picture of you while we were out there.

All in all it was a pretty great trip, and a very nice birthday present to myself.