Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The time has come to finally get back to this blog. I've been on maternity leave tending to this new babe, but back to work on Monday. Oh man. I had a little over 10 weeks off and I'm so grateful! I don't know how I could have gone back any sooner than this, and my body didn't even have to recover. Anyways that is a different rant for another post.  Today's post is something so special and cool that it needed to be shared a long time ago, unfortunately you all were counting on me to write it so you had to wait.

Let me start with a quick refresher; when Andy and I decided to start the adoption process we had a little money stored away, but nothing close to the amount that a typical domestic adoption runs in this country.  So, we started fundraising and one of the most successful (and fun) efforts we did was a map guessing game. For a donation of any amount you could choose where you thought baby Salonen was going to be born in the United States. 

My bff and her hubs decided to join in the fun.  They did what comes first in their life though and prayed about what to give and where to pick. I received a check in the mail with an index card with their guesses:

                           Loveland, Colorado - Arieanna

I called her and thanked her for her sweet donation and then jokingly let her in on a little secret.

Me: We aren't looking at any agencies in Colorado just so you know. Just a little insider tip if you want to change what city you think the baby will be coming from.

Arie: Well shoot! But I want to keep my guess, I really did pray about this and I just felt like God was leading me to pick Loveland. Plus, how cool would it be if you got a baby from LOVE-land.

Me: Alright, well the prize wasn't gonna be that great, but now you are going to lose because it's pretty impossible to get a baby from Colorado when we are applying to agencies in Florida & Texas. 

Fast forward a few months: in Loveland Colorado on March 10th, our sweet baby Abel is delivered into our arms. Man, how cool is that?

I love this story because it is such a powerful display of what it means to prayerfully give. To think about what you are giving to, who you are giving to, and how you are giving. My bff Arieanna does this well, and she shares what God lays on her heart. 

Because of her sweet faithfulness she wins the big bucks. Okay, no big bucks involved but what better way to say thank you & I love you then a fun photo shoot with my bff, her adorable baby, and my sweet kid born in Loveland?! Enjoy these totes adorable photos of that day courtesy of Captivated Photography!

Avery gave Abel Kisses the whole time and every time my heart melted. 

Look Ma I can fly!

 The big bellied Abel 

 The sweet Avery Jane

 Beautiful BFF & Plank Baby

                           BFF's and future hubsand and wife. #getemyoungaveryjane

Thankful Thursday! Hospital, California, Husband & More

I totally stole this post idea from Ronnie Sharp and his Blog. So Thanks! Anyways, so many things to be thankful for today that I'm gonna do another steal and just bullet them....

• Hospital stay is almost over! That's right - I'm outta this joint tomorrow! Whoo hoo, I've prepped the doctors all week to be ready for discharge EARLY on Friday so this means hopefully I'll get be outta here by 1 or 2pm. Not bad. I've spent a large part of the day on the phone with insurance companies and am oh sooo excited to deal with their junk when I leave here. 
• California knows how to Party! Oh! Well I find myself singing any California song I know because I just booked my ticket for NEXT WEEK. Ok, it's gonna be a little crazy getting out of the hospital and then bam on a plane Sunday to California, but Andy was heading out there for work anyways and after talking with him last night we both decided I should go to. "Why Not," is my big feeling on the matter. I work from my computer anyways and the hotels are paid for. I'm soo soo excited and we get to see my new brother-in -law over the weekend. It's just going to be fabulous -and as always one of those last minute decisions I make. How am I an event planner? :)
• Husband, can't forget him on this list because well he just makes it all happen. Last night he braved the snowy roads to see me and it really did make me feel better. The whole afternoon I had had a cursing headache and from the moment I saw him it was lifted. I dunno what it is about him I just love him.
• Work- like I said I work from my computer mostly these days and feel super blessed to work for family and in a flexible environment. Even though I'm leaving this job in a couple weeks I know God has something in mind for me (just a quick reminder God: I'm still waiting for you to reveal your plan to me) and I'm trying to be active and prayerful in the finding work realm. 
• BFF's- you guys are just great. Thanks for all the chats, group mms's, and pictures. Check out my BFF arieanna's blog here and check out gay gay's blog ..... well when she stops working on her masters and saving children in need. :)
• Brother Bear & Sister Goose & Family-- you guys are an amazing support team! My brother bear apparently is a super hero and has built his own computer (literally built it), speaks Persian & jumps out of airplanes. My SG has tackled a new job working as a CNA, is remodeling her house, and just got engaged and is letting me plan her wedding...wait. maybe not that last part but I'm trying! As for the rest of em? My Mom and Steve watch the Frankerdoodle while I'm in here (and in California?) and bring me treats and presents, Ronzilla (aka Dad) calls me daily to humor me with his latest golf wit or why he believes I'm such a twirp, The InLaws (sue & bill) send texts, care packages and make late night phone calls, and grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles from all over have been nothing but giant blessings these past two weeks

So that's it for my Thankful Thursday! There are obviously many more things to be thankful for but those are just a few on my plate today! What are you thankful for?? 

Sick Hubby & Blogging

So I'm kinda liking this blogging thing, I can communicate with all of you out there and Lord knows my thoughts  need to be heard! :) On the docket today sick husband/sleeping pills, iphones, & exercise.  So let me begin;

Poor Andy (the husband) has been super sweet to me and keeping me company while I stay tuned up- however late Monday night after I had taken a hard dose of sleeping pills, Andy awoke in the hospital with an awful stomach flu. I stumbled into something a little bit less than consciousness around 4am to discover his cot empty and started looking under my bed and out the door for him. Finally, the nurse came in and with a quizical look and exclaimed to my not so coherent mind, "As you've probably realized your husband left- he was really sick, but he just kept smiling. What a great guy." At this point my mind wandered into some other realm- I laid back down, sent a text to him that looked something like "lkdjove yuoud dkkdo ok?>D?D"  and lolled off into lala land for another 3 hours. When I finally did make it out of my sleep coma, I was sure I had fixed the tax problem, cured CF and bought a pony; unfortunately those all just seemed to be hallucinations from the sleeping pills. Andy, however, spent all of Tuesday wrapped in bed with saltines and his computer. So Tuesday was quite the treat for us, me in the hospital him in the sick bed at home. I know that he is truly sick because #1 he called in sick from work and #2 he stayed home ALL day and only did ONE load of laundry! For those of you that don't know he's a workaholic cleanaholic and I provide the balance! :)  So appreciate any prayers from you prayers out there for speedy health for us two!

My newest favorite thing about my iphone is the the group messaging. I have two bff's who live too far apart from me and we started this group message about a month ago that just keeps going. It's great I no longer have to text them both the same thing (that always made me feel like I was cheating them or they were cheating me somehow. In college, Arieanna and I would both hear our phone buzz in class, I'd  look down and there would be a message from Gay Gay saying "I love you, you're great" and then I'd look at Arie's phone and it would be the same message and I would just feel this, "Dang" inside of me like I wasn't special.) That story aside, with group messaging  I no longer have that not special feeling and since we live so far away from each other I feel like we get to have conversations again! I can be a bystander while they talk about something and then chime in if I need to. Moral of this is that I'm now trying to encourage them to be fellow bloggers with me and maybe someday, just maybe, It'll get big :)


And for the last words of the day- I'm exercising! Whoop! I ran six flights of stairs yesterday, huffed the last 3 till I wanted to die and made it back to my room safely with a heartrate of 180. :)  They've brought an exercise bike into my room and I managed a full 20 minutes of my very busy day on that. Gonna keep this up- Don't want to be a sick CF kid :)   I'm leaving you with this sweet photo of myself... the prednisone has kicked in and the puffy cheeks are back. Chubby Bunny.

This is me-- doing the Vest and enjoying the full face...