January's Book

One of my goals for 2012 was to read a book per month (remember that goals post I wrote and talked about but never ended up publishing? Yeah, seems kind of like a wash at this point). I really, really love to read but I'm disappointed I don't get to books as often as I'd like. Especially considering I literally live across the street from our public library (which is one of the reasons we loved our house so much!). So I thought setting an easy goal of a book per month would give me a little motivation to get some reading done without a lot of pressure. In order to make it even easier, it doesn't matter what type of book I read each month. Fiction or non-fiction, life-changing or not, I'm just going with what I feel that month.

It seemed fitting to start the year off reading a book that may help us get closer to meeting our fundraising goals for our adoption. So the book Adopt Without Debt by Julie Gumm sure fit the bill. I really enjoyed the book. It was a quick read and was easy to get through. Although the ideas in the book weren't necessarily earth shattering (we've been doing certain fundraisers and researching fundraisers for a year now), I did get a few ideas I hadn't really thought about. I appreciate that there are specific details of how to plan and execute specific fundraisers and make what might seem overwhelming a lot more manageable. It's also pretty encouraging that there are families represented for each fundraising idea and that they really made money! People have gone before us and been successful! Sigh of relief. The best thing I got out of the book, though? MOTIVATION. I felt like saying "yes we can!" ha. Really though, I would recommend it if you're having a difficult time piecing through what might work for your family and how you can reach people (and share the story of adoption and how God has worked in your family) outside your circle, it's certainly beneficial. Hey, I figured if I get one idea and I make $12 off of it, the book paid for itself.

Have you read it? What did you think and what ideas are you excited to try?

C-ya C-collar!!

 Hey everybody! This is Nick and the fact that I can type this blog shows that I have improved vastly from Kelly's last post. The progress is so good, in fact, that I am able to head back to work on Monday!
 With pain usually comes the opportunity to learn. In my case, I have learned a few things that may be valuable to our friends so I thought sharing was appropriate. First insight: falling with outstretched hands and arms is a bad idea, but not near as bad as falling directly on your flipping neck!
 While snowboarding, Kelly and I try to practice things we aren't good at like going down the hill with our right foot forward instead of the regular left foot stance. We figure sooner or later we'll be in the half pipe at the x-games, but first things first. While I wish I could say I was doing some fancy move, in reality all I was doing was trying to "ride switchfoot" as the kids say. I hit a rut in the packed snow while turning and my board just jumped forward like someone pulled the rug out from under my feet. I've learned not to throw my hands down so I don't break my wrists, but these falls happen so fast I didn't realize I was heading straight for my neck.

 The good thing about working in health care is that you have a good idea about what you just did. The bad thing about working in health care is that you have a good idea what you just did. As soon as I hit, there was an instant lightning bolt feeling down both arms followed by some amazing fire in both hands.
 So I boarded down the rest of the hill and told Kelly about my fun new sensations and we walked over to grab some professional help. The help turned into a c-collar, a backboard, ambulance ride, CT-scan, MRI and ruined Saturday for our awesome house guests from DC. Sorry Liz and Rick!!
 After some debate between doctors in the ER I was allowed to go home with "negative MRI results". After some string pulling and being ignored by the VA, we got a second opinion on the MRI and the same pictures turned from sort-of-bad to herniated disk. I'd say someone dropped the ball at the ER. The Dr. started me on some steroids and surgery has been a pretty real option. The GREAT news I got on Wednesday is that surgery is off the table for now and will stay that way as long as I don't go back to feeling that fire!!
 To stay away from surgery all I have to do is keep myself out of any car accidents or head banging heavy metal concerts. My rock-n-roll career is over before it ever began... so sad.
 Kelly and I both want to thank everyone who prayed for us and kept us in their thoughts as we were dealing with this craziness. It is great to have friends and family who are so good to us. My co-workers even threw me a surprise get well party! The best news is that I'm back to work on Monday, we can start focusing back on the adoption, and the doc simply wants me to eeeaaaase my way back into normal life. We'll keep you updated and start putting up more blogs in the very near future. Thanks again for the support!

A little break...

Hi blog readers! I'm going to be taking a break for a few days to focus on my family. I know, I know, it has already been a few days since I've visited. That was for a fun reason, though! My best friend from middle school and her boyfriend came out to Colorado to visit for a few days. We had so much fun catching up and it was good to see her face.

Unfortunately, my husband was invovled in a snowboarding accident yesterday. He is doing okay, but we're in the process of waiting to see how his symptoms will change over a few days and in order to keep up with the things I have to (i.e. work) and feel like I'm trying to slow my speed, I'll be steering clear of the blog for a short time.

I'll keep you all updated. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

mitad, anyone?

I'm starting this new cooking project. Haven't told you about it? Go over and see what I have up my sleeves. Go ahead, I'll still be here when you get back...

So what this means is I'm preparing to get my hands dirty making some injera. I've read a lot of injera recipes, scrolled through reviews and saved tons of posts. I narrowed my injera attempts down to two recipes. One incredibly simple, one incredibly difficult. I'll let you know if I think the extra work is worth it. That is, if I can figure how to get this starter going. Sheesh.

See, the second recipe calls for a mitad, in which a lefse grill can be substituted. This all seemed to be coming together well. My mother-in-law got Nick and I a groupon for a local kitchen store. I went down yesterday to ask her about a lefse grill. She told me she'd call the company tomorrow and then let me know pricing. She got back to me, left a message and said I'd be better off ordering it online. I called back anyway, since we have the groupon and all. I asked her multiple times, how much would the lefse grill with the teflon coating and the lid cost? "Uhh, well, I'm not sure." After multiple other studdering responses, she told me she wouldn't accept the groupon on the item, because well, couldn't I understand that it didn't benefit her to accept the groupon? Umm...okay. First time I've heard of a local business a.] not honoring a deal they allowed people to purchase (despite no information anywhere for the exclusion of a lefse grill) and b.] sending their business to the internet market. No wonder all our local shops are going out of business in Loveland.

I suppose this means I'm in the market for a lefse grill.

Melkam Genna!

Today was Christmas in Ethiopia! I hope our little one had the chance to feast on lamb and was being taught about our Savior's birth into this world.

If you're interested in hearing more about how Christmas in Ethiopia is celebrated, you can check out this blog post I wrote over at Give1Save1 a few weeks ago.

a different direction...

I had a few ideas for some blog posts I was planning on writing tonight. A few that weren't too bad, really. Until I read this post. The idea of sharing slavery and the American history of racial conflict with our Ethiopian daughter is one that is daunting, scary and makes me feel extra uncomfortable. Kristen from the Rage Against the Minivan blog, I've thought, has always done a nice job addressing transracial issues and has many personal experiences to share. I love the blog post she recently wrote about her son's first exposure to the civil rights and MLK and I also love the discussion occurring in the comments section. Go check it out.

Get what I ask for

Yikes. Two techy (or anti-techy, really) posts in a row and what happens? We lose internet. For three days. It was actually really nice and quite a relief. Unfortunately, there are things that again, require us to maintain some connection to the outside world (i.e. through the internet), so it was time we needed to call our internet company to get it fixed.

{via}

Needless to say, after over two hours on the phone with the company and having passed the phone back and forth three times between Nick and I once we each got so frustrated because nobody was listening to us we couldn't be friendly and patient any longer, it is now finally back up and running.

So I have a post that's not quite complete in que, and I haven't had a chance to finish it yet although it involves new year's goals. One of these said goals? In bed by 10:00 p.m. I'm looking at the clock...10:07 p.m. Sheesh. At least goals are a work in progress; something to strive for, right?