OWJ! Congratulations on your decision to adopt! How wonderful that you and DH will be growing your family through adoption...you're absolutely right, now it's a question of WHEN you get to be a mommy, not IF! Congrats!

Check out the website rubber-ducky dot org for the GREATEST adoption support group online...the ladies there know everything and are a great support crew!

YEAH for OWJ and DH, what wonderful news. It is a happy week!

OWJ-Congrats and Best Wishes. Hope everything works out for you! :-)

PM-Glad everything is ok. My dh doesn't share my passion for travel either. He is a good sport about it though...

Tess-Great News.

GoTravel-Hope everything is going ok with you and your dh. You were in my thoughts and prayers.

On to rants and raves...

Rave-Beautiful weather today.

Rant-A certain lacrosse team I won't mention.

Rave-The young man who had the courage to testify before Congress about predators and his experience.

Rant-Stupid judges slapping above on the wrist.

Rave-Spring break next week! FLA here I come.

Have a great weekend everyone. Congrats to all those sharing good news today!

OWJ ~ I know you already know what is in my heart for you and your DH, but you can't say congrats too many times, right?!? Best wishes always!!!!!!
>:D<

OWJ- Congratulations, and thanks for letting us in on the excitement!

My best friend is a member of a terrific adoption group. They met thru their agency and for 18 years (at least) have been meeting a couple of times a year for family activities and an annual beach camping weekend.

We always came camping as 'friends', but I realized long ago that no one remembers that and all think our kids are adopted too. Somebody once commented on how amazingly similar my kids look to my husband!

I'm really happy for you, and wish you a fast and easy paper pregnacy.

p.s. Please tell OWJ2 that I hope his back feels VERY soon.

Thanks guys for your good travel wishes! I hope all those who are about to travel have a wonderful time! Safe travels to all of us! :) ((#))

OWJ! Congratulations to you and your DH on your journey!!! What wonderful news and thank you for sharing it with us! I hope any and all obstacles never see the light of day. Best wishes, I am truly so very happy for you. ((l))

TIFF! Congratulations to you and your DH. Always keep happy thoughts! I am so excited for you! ((l))

Tess, that's wonderful news about your mom!

Caph, I got your mail. Always so good to hear from you!

Trish, how have you been. I haven't been the best exercise buddy, have I? So how many days left before St. John? :)

You know who I have been thinking about lately? Ryan. I hope he is doing well. I miss hearing about his kids.

Rant: I almost set the house on fire this afternoon while baking a batch of Toll House cookies (to leave behind for when our youngest comes home for this week -- I'm so nice). Yikes! I was distracted by Fodors, forgot the cookies were in the oven until the alarms went off. I have every window open -- the house stinks of burnt cookies. Yuk.

Rant: Packing.

Bigger Rant: Packing while tired. If I ever told you about all the crap I take, you would really get some laughs. Thankfully I'm not indicisive when it comes to the rest of my life, lol! :D

Anyway, I've got to get going. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :D

I've thought about Ryan often since my husband got his good news. I sure hope Ryan has had some.

Big Rant: Just heard about the death of the 28 year old coach of the Army women's basketball team. How terribly sad!

Raves: My precious OWJ completing the long drawn out adoption process, this is going to be one lucky little baby with she and OWJ2 as parents.

Rant: Dear OWJ2's back problem. Prayers that he gets relief and recovers real soon. Back problems are not fun, to put it midly.

Rave: I mentioned last week that a friend was expecting a baby! Thanks Tiff was posting your wonderful news. Your little one will have a special life also.

Rave: I have been bursting at the seams with happiness knowing OWJ and Tiff's special news.

Rave: P_M, thank goodness your husband is alright and is recovering quickly. And many good wishes to you while you take this special trip. I am so glad glad you did not have to cancel it.

Rave: Caph's trip report which will be so much fun to read a bit later. A very special trip which we all were emotionally hoping they could take..and they did!!

To all of you with problems of any kind; I hope you have loving and helpful people surrounding you to help you get through your life's problem as gently as possible.

And Jorr. I really don't know what to say :-D I am sure the fruit, veggies, canned goods are very cleaned and waxed but how about the bread? That is the funniest story (except for the cost of groceries) I have heard in ages.

Happy weekend everyone!!

Super Duper Big Rave: OWJ & Tiff and everyone elses good news2!!!!!!!!! I'm with ya, LoveItaly, what lucky little babies are in the making!!

Rave: The grandgirls are coming to see us tomorrow afternoon and spending the night.

Rave: It doesn't take much to make us happy!

Rave: The dogwoods in our yard are just beautiful.

Rant: Supposed to have really bad storms this evening.

Jorr, your story had me laughing. Congrats to Tiff! Caph, welcome home, I have to read your trip report. P-M glad your DH is ok and well. Have a great trip. Congrats to Alya on her DD college graduation!

Rant: Cleaning so I can have a "fake" clean, orderly house for company.

Rave: Our friends are visiting Sunday!

Rave: Saw "Thank You For Smoking" with Sister in law. It was hilarious.

Rant: Youngest DD is away in Ohio competing in Winterguard performances. I miss her and worry about her. Because of lack of money they had to cancel the coach bus and rent a 15 passenger van and driver.

Rant: Youngest DD is mad at me because I am making her take the May SAT at her High School and she is missing a big competition that weekend. Too bad, school comes first!

Biggest Rant: Someone accused me of being an Italian tour company plant on Trip Advisor because I had left positive comments on the tour company I used in Rome. Person who accused me was discovered to be the one trying to manipulate the system.

Last Rave: DH is on his way home from work and he is picking me up spareribs from the takeout Chinese restaurant. Yumm!

Have a great weekend everyone!

BABIES!!!! yeah

It doesn't matter how they arrive in your life - just that it's meant to be!

OWJ, I am so pleased for you - we have friends who adopted they said the hardest decision was to decide to adopt. They expected and were willing to adopt an older child.

A month after they were accepted as adoptive parents they were chosen to be parents to a 10 month old.

He is soooooo loved.

And when your babe takes driving lessons - 2 hands on the wheel :-D

Congratulations to all

Rant:
Have not slept in 5 days. I just lie in bed and look at the ceiling, then after two hours, go about doing other activities (walk the dogs, read, etc).

Raves:
The took an orange-sized tumor out of my cousin's brain and he had no post-op problems (full mobility and speech). It was benign, and no further measures are needed.

My grandmother is doing well in her new nursing home.

My travel future is taking a drastic turn towards. . . Brazil!

OWJ: CONGRATULATIONS! What wonderful news!

Tiff and OWJ ~ so very happy for you!!! Babies are the sweetest blessing!!! (and continue to be, even when nearly grown ((L)))

Tess ~ soo VERY relieved to hear your news! I'd been thinking about you and your mom.

Caph52 ~ i'm delighted to hear things are going so well for you!!!

To all those with concerns, praying (often!) for good health, happiness and joy in this journey called life.

RAVE: Counting the minutes to spring break and Florida!

OWJ--I am so happy for you amd your husband. That's wonderful news! That child is going to be so lucky!!

I must admit--I'm a little jealous with all this baby news. I'm ready to start trying but not quite. We're going to wait until after we get married.

Rave: I agree with all other posters...babies are good news!
Rave: DH is coming home from the opening round of the Masters! I guess it is pizza, hot tub and PPV boxing tonight. Wohoo!
Rave: Spring break!!

No rants:)

jorr...sorry about the groceries. I, too, have my moments.:)

Rave: Wife and I are leaving for NYC later this week helping to chaperone a H.S. girl's choir who will be performing next weekend (as part of a larger group) at Carnegie Hall. We have been to NYC several times and love every trip but it is especially neat to be able to be part of the excitement for many of these kids who have never been there before.
Rant/Rave: Really need rain here in SW FL but another beautiful weekend.

LOL Jorr! :D

Rant: I'm a sucker for work. After swearing off fundraising since I didn't get any recognition for the last $1.5 mil I raised, I'm back at it. I'm now trying to raise another $1.5 mil, but I told my boss it's all me, or none at all because I don't ever get recognition for my work, the development team always gets credit for my work, as happened just a few weeks ago. I hope he gets the message. Who am I kidding, he just doesn't get it.

Rant: Worked til 11pm on a Friday night for said fundraising initiative. Of course, as a young woman, I have nothing to do on a Friday night other than work on proposals.

Rave: Met a new cute guy from our sister office (same city, different division). He's tall, handsome, and has a name that rolls off my tongue. Everyone in the meeting thinks he likes me. Wonder if he does like me?

Rave: My boss and I, no matter what our conflict, work very well together. No matter how intense the work or our differences, we can always laugh. For that, I feel lucky, as I know others who can't work with their bosses at all. That doesn't mean I wouldn't leave for a better future though. And no worries, there's no hanky panky going on. He's gay, and I'm the consummate professional.

Rave: We took an impromptu trip to DC last weekend, just in time to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom. It's nice to see the city as a tourist, and not as a fly-in/fly-out business traveler.

Raves to everyone's great news (Tess, P_M, TIff, escargot, OWJ, and anyone else I missed - my apologies!)

To those with worries, my thoughts are with you.

But what great news about all the baby news here! Yay!!! :D

So happy about all the baby news! I wish my "babies" were babies again. I loved that time of my life.

I know just what you mean, Oldmyst! I enjoy my kids tremendously now. I'm happy to say they've grown up to be wonderful companions. But it's just such a special time when they're little! Can't say I miss the sleepless nights! But I sure do miss the feeling of holding a baby in my arms.

Oldmyst and CAPH, I still yearn for my "baby" to still be a baby..and she is now a mother of a twenty year old young man, LOL. I wish I could clone her, one as a baby and the other as the beautiful woman she is today.

Day late but that's OK
Rant: Burned out at work, same ole same ole but what do you expect after 20 years.
Rave: Going to LA Monday and Tuesday for UCLA Welcome day with my son.
Rave: Leaving for Hawaii to visit my sister for her 69th B-day on April 18th.

Life is good. Take lemons and make lemonade. Take care all. Barb

Caph, I am glad you are enjoying your babies. I am still waiting for mine to realize mom isn't so bad. LoveItaly, maybe we can match your 20 year old with an older woman of 21! wink!

following my post, my grandfather died, friday morning. likely, as i was writing the post. i got the call shortly there after. spent the weekend at home with family (he had 10 children!) and friends. and my biggest feeling on it, is how things don't change. we all cooked, ate, talked, etc...just like we did for years in that house.

thank you faina et all for your thoughts.

owj...that is terrific! i'm a staunch supporter of adoption. besides the fact that you will be bringing joy and love and creating a family, we remember the trouble you had this past year and i think there is something to be said for not waiting for life to happen to you, but making your life what you want.

:-D

otto--sorry to hear about the loss of your grandfather. From your first post it was evident that you had prepared for it but even so, it is difficult to lose a loved one. Glad you spent time with your family and also that you were able to spend time with your grandfather to say goodbye.

Thoughts and prayers for your family, otto. It sounds like your family all gathered 'round and, I suspect, told lots of stories. I'm sure it's just what your grandfather would have wanted.

Otto, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather. What a gift that you could spend the weekend with family, no doubt remembering lots of good memories. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

Otto, I am sorry about your grandfather. How proud though to have his entire family in his home as always. I am sure it made him smile, isn't that what we all would want...
A hug for you and yours, Tiff

thank you all for your kind words and thoughts.

Hello friends...
Maybe I should have waited more than a couple weeks to tell you all about the baby.
We just returned from the doctor, and sadly we have an ectopic pregnancy. I so wish the news I had to tell you was better.
I want to thank everyone for your good wishes, you are all special people.
((L))

Oh, Tiff, I'm so sorry! Thank goodness that you found out before your tube burst. Or at least I'm assuming that's the case. You and your husband are in my thoughts and prayers as you recover from this. Give yourself time to deal with it. Sending you a huge, huge hug.
Cathy

My sympathies Otto.

Tiff, I'm so sorry. Good thoughts for you and your husband.

Thank you very much, kureiff.

CAPH ~ Thank you for your kindness. They don't know where the pregnancy is, they just know that it is not in my uterus where it is suppose to be. They define 'ectopic' as anywhere outside the uterus. They just have to watch me closely now, to make sure it is not in my tubes. We just have to wait, sadly, we just have to wait to miscarry.

Maybe I should have waited to tell you guys. It makes me sad to know you all will be sad about this. I know it sounds bizarre, but I feel your pain when you all are going through a loss, or worrying about a loved one. I think of you throughout the day and it stays with me during my week and longer.
I'm sorry.

Tiff, I am very glad that you did tell us. Now we can all be here for you, just as you've been there for us! Know that you're not alone. That we're all praying and sending good thoughts to the cosmos that this will have the best possible outcome.

I've never had an eptopic pregnancy. But I do know what it's like to wait to miscarry. It was my second miscarriage. (With the first one, I spotted but kept being assured that everything looked fine. The second time an ultrasound told a different story.) But a year later I had my beautiful, wonderful son! And I know things will work out for you too, Tiff.

I also know that the days ahead won't we easy ones. That's why I'm glad that we're all able to be here for you. Please keep us posted and let us know if there's anything we can do.

Oh tiff, i'm so sorry to hear the news. Thank you for telling us. I too, often think of so many of you, even if i don't often post. And i pray, and will pray for you to know peace through this difficult time. Hugs to you.

Tiff, I am so sorry to hear your news. I've been in your shoes and feel for you in what you are going thru. Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Tiff,

I am so sorry. Please know you are in my thoughts.