Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Five

High Note

Every team I coach is different from the one before. Usually dramatically different.

This season, it's been a battle. I love these girls, but nothing has been easy with this team. Pretty much if you can name it, we've dealt with it.

We've battled

laziness,

imsosickofvolleyballicouldexplode,

gossip,

lack of commitment,

rumors,

at.tit.tudes,

conflict,

ijustplaindontlikeyou,

and exhaustion.

But yesterday - oh yesterday - it all came together.

On our last day of competition, they left it all behind and just played volleyball.

They listened to me and I remembered why I have believed so much in each of them.

And they won.every.game.

And that made them first place for the day- with a real trophy and everything.
And I thought to myself (as I do at the end of every season), "It's all been worth it. When do we start again."
What a way to end.

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Two

Twenty-One

Twenty

It's all Greek to Me

After two months, I'm still mucking through the second semester of Algebra II with one of my students. Some days, I pat myself of the back for figuring this mess out. Other days - like today - I give up.

For example;

Here's what the problem says: "Jane wants to find the height of a mountain. From some spot on the ground, she finds the angle of elevation to the top of the mountain to be 35° 20'. After moving 1,000 m closer to the mountain, she now finds the angle of elevation to be 50° 30'. Find the height of the mountain to three significant digits."

Here's what I see when I look at this problem:"Jane is hiking in the woods. She finds some spot on the ground and decides to eat lunch. After buttering her bread, Jane decides she would rather wear her hair in a ponytail. She now finds a sheet of rainbow stickers in her back pocket. Determine three significant things that Jane will accomplish with the rest of her life."

WHAAAATTT?

Dear Algebra II,

You are very difficult and you are making my brain tired.

Please stop.

I am sick of you.

Love,

Becky

Hi, my name is Becky and I'm a photoholic

On Saturday night, we went to Denver with our friends to check out this sweet cupcake bakery on Colfax Avenue.

My sister, her boyfriend Nate, and his sister Faith came from Ft. Collins to meet us.
When Nate sat down at the table, he set his plate down in front of him, looked at his cupcake and asked, "Am I allowed to eat this?"

I think I gave him a look that said, "Well of course, silly, it's your very-own-nutella-and-chocolate-flavored-goodness to enjoy. Why would you ask such a question?"

To which he replied, "I mean, are you going to need to take a picture first?"

Enthusiastically, I exclaimed, "Well, yes! **click** Thank you for **click** being so considerate. **click click click** I did in fact want a picture **click** of it!"

Later, on the drive home, I sheepishly realized that I am the girl who can't even let her friends enjoy their dessert without first demanding a picture. And it's not even a picture of the friend that I was after, mind you. No, it was a picture of his cupcake forcryingoutloud.

But, who doesn't want seven pictures of a little chocolate cupcake?

I mean, it's pretty adorable, right? Right? Right, guys?

Perhaps I have a problem.

Nineteen

Eighteen

Seventeen

Sixteen

Fifteen

Interesting. Very interesting.

Today I learned that my black-makeup-wearing, vampire-loving, swear-word-using, anime-adoring, blue-hair-dyeing ninth grade student

also enjoys

listening to

Amy Grant.

hmm. interesting.

Fourteen

Thirteen

Twelve

Eleven

3 cups

Saturday -

edit photos, photo shoot, more editing,

clean house, cook dinner, enjoy family

watch play, come home to sleep for 5 hours and then on to

Sunday -

wake up at 5 am, drive to Pueblo,

manage attitudes and gossip while coaching 4 matches of volleyball,

try to convince parents that every girl on the team is just as important as their own daughter, drive home,

lay on the couch exhausted, watch motorcycle race with hubby

until I fall asleep and wake up on

Monday -

spend two hours banging my head on my student's algebra book

and then off to work.

This is a 3-cups-of-coffee kind of Monday.

I'm just sayin...

Ten

Nine

Eight

High School

This morning, I was trying my darndest to explain the start of World War I to my freshman student. I'm not a history buff, so I have to admit that the words often allude me.

Me: World War I began because Germany began making many alliance with many different nations and this made other nations feel uncomfortable and threatened. Then, fighting broke out when certain countries started invading the lands of other countries. Does that make sense?

Student: Yeah. It sounds alot like high school.

Me: Um, okay.

I'm not sure if I should feel like a total failure or if her response indicates that she really got it.

Seven

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

One-A-Day

I've read the accounts of many adoptive families as they waited to be matched with their child. I've learned about the agony of the wait and the pain that comes from feeling like it will never end. I understand - over the past 10 months, I've experienced many of these emotions already.

But can I just be a little honest here?

Right now - now that we have our sights set on the month of February - I'm feeling a little bit nervous that this time is just going to fly by.

You see, at the end of this wait is a major life-change for us. And, while I am excited for that change, it is still a MAJOR LIFE CHANGE. As I watch myself heading toward parenthood and all the responsibilities, joys, and challenges that it brings, 10 months just doesn't seem like very long at all.

I'm sure that there are many adoptive parents out there who are exclaiming at this very moment that I am delusional - wanting me to know that 10 months might as well be eternity and that I should prepare myself for a lot of heartache.

I know this. I know these next 10 months will be emotional and that we will experience highs and lows, hope and disappointment.

But I want to do my best to enjoy this time.

I want to

read books,

take long runs,

sleep in,

enjoy my nieces and nephews,

scrapbook,

stay out late,

and be spontaneous.

Because in about a year, things are going to look a little (a lot) different for us.

So I've issued a little challenge to myself - to capture this time by taking one photo every day until we bring our baby home.

I believe that this project will encourage me to find something interesting about each day and I hope to grow and develop my photography skills too. (And I'm thinking that after this year, I won't take another photograph that doesn't have my baby in it. Isn't that how it goes?)

And I have a vision of sitting down with our little guy one day, showing him these photos, and telling him about all of the things we did to prepare our lives and hearts to love and care for him.

While I can't promise to get every photo posted here right on time, I can promise that I will let you see each one and I do hope you enjoy them.

Now, shall we take bets on how many photos I will post before all is said and done?

I'm guessing 435. You?

Paperwork Marathon - Complete!

After 10.5 months of paperwork, we are happy to announce that our Dossier is COMPLETE and on its way to Washington, DC.

And do you know what that means?

That means we are officially on the WAITING LIST!!!

Never in my life have I been so excited to earn the privilege of waiting for something.

Usually, being asked to wait might result in a variety of responses ranging from from a fussy "harumph" (complete with an eye-roll) to an all out tantrum.

But not today.

Today, we are thrilled with the news that we can now WAIT.

Currently, the average waiting time for an infant is 8-10 months.

I'm going to save myself some heartache and keeps my eyes on February - hailing it as the month that we could be matched with our little son.

If it happens before then, well then there will be much rejoicing.

If it happens much later, things might get ugly.

Until then, we will continue to prepare our home and our lives for parenthood. And when I think about it that way - when I realize that we are headed for some major changes - 10 months really doesn't seem like all that long.