Just like riding a bike--yeah, right...

As we wait for mei mei, there are days I find myself COMPLETELY freaked out at the prospect of having a really little one in the house again. Overall, Lindy was (and is) so easy, so I know I probably take many things for granted with her and the whole motherhood thing.

This past Saturday we had the PRIVILEGE and HONOR to babysit our friends' baby while they went to our church's Sweetheart Dinner. We decided to sit out the annual event for more than one reason but I will admit peach cobbler being the only dessert offering (HERESY in my book) pretty much clinched the decision for us. If you know me very well, you probably know I gag a little just typing that. Neither Don and I like peaches and I'm just downright phobic and neurotic about them. Even if there had been another choice, I would have been "worrying" all evening that the cobbler spoon would touch the other dessert, thus rendering it tainted. I'm TOTALLY serious.

Anyway, I digress. We were so excited to babysit this little angel and we thought it was ironic that last week she was EXACTLY the age Lindy was when we got her (just five days shy of 11 months).


As the hours turned to minutes, I kept wondering if I would remember what to do and how to take care of a baby baby. Let me tell you, I don't remember Lindy being that small or helpless. I really don't. Our special guest was great fun and she was a total dream. She was a complete doll. However, I am here to confess that I am REALLY out of practice and it wasn't totally like riding a bike. When it came to changing a messy--and I do mean MESSY--diaper (still WAY better than peach cobbler), it took me about 10 minutes and 23 wipes. I made just about every rookie mistake. Then when it came to putting her into her pajamas, which was a one piece thing with about 1000 snaps, that took about another 10 minutes. My oh my...I am rusty and I am so glad Candid Camera wasn't there to film me.

So, if you are in the local area and you read this blog and you are about to have a baby or have one in the house, this washed up mommy is in need of some more practice!

Black and White Wednesday

Welcome to my second installment of Black and White Wednesday sponsored by Lisa at The Long Road to China. This past weekend, I snapped a few pictures of Lindy running around in the yard before we went out for dinner. I got a few I liked but I thought this one was a really lovely shot of her because I caught her being still (which is rare for her) and just enjoying looking around in a really natural, unposed way.

I find it challenging to get natural shots of the Lindy I see and love because when the camera comes out she either hams it up or looks like a candidate from America's Most Wanted--not an uncommon challenge and frustration for those photographing kids.

Happy B&W day~
Lisa

Black and White Wednesday

Lisa at The Long Road to China started a neat project last Wednesday called Black and White Wednesday. She is an amazing photographer and is on a quest to fill her walls with black and white shots. She asked her blog buddies to join in and post black and whites on their blog "walls" each Wednesday. I, too, have been looking for some black and whites to put in frames, so I thought this would be a good motivator to get that project started and finished.

I will admit I was kind of hesitant to join along today because:

1. I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography. I have very few fundamentals and am sure I break more rules than I follow.

2. For as little as I know about photography, I know even less about editing. I haven't ventured into the world of Lightroom or Photoshop, yet.

3. I'm easily intimidated and totally hard on myself.

However, I really DO want to learn and I'm not going to be able to do that until I put myself out there and start observing and being observed. One of the first things I noticed when I was looking for a photo to convert to b&w was that a lot of the pictures I've taken in the past are filled with background junk. This one wasn't.

I took this picture of Lindy on May 31, 2009 before church as I caught her twirling in the front yard. I am sure we were late and it was a complete run back in the house and get the camera moment, so I was glad to catch anything decent. It was just with my little Canon POS (circa 2005) and I cleaned it up in Picasa. I was psyched to see the catch light in her eyes, although, I'm not sure you can tell with the size that'll show up on blogger (note to self--figure out how to post bigger-sized pix).

Happy Wednesday!!!

Holiday highlights

Happy new year!

It seems I'm a bit slow getting myself into gear for the new year. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that 2010 is off to a good start for you.

We had a very nice but exhausting Christmas and New Year's.

For Christmas, we traveled to southern California for a week. Some of the highlights included:

A quick jaunt to the famous Santa Monica Pier. For those of you in the throes of winter, here's some California sun for you...





A fun day at Knott's Berry Farm. Sure they don't have the mouse or princesses but they have the cute beagle we all love and a world famous fried chicken dinner.





The FIRST time for Lindy to sit on Santa's lap...


LOTS of bonding time with the family. We were so fortunate to see my grandparents, parents, brother's family, aunts and uncles, and cousins.





Christmas morning at Matt & Erin's, Christmas day and evening at Uncle Steve & Aunt Pauline's, and a late celebration at home. Christmas morning included "a white Christmas" thanks to "Uncle" Kyle's HUGE box of styrofoam peanuts.











An educational visit to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and a tour of a retired Air Force One plane.

Time at my grandparents (which somehow went undocumented in photos)...

After we returned home and had our quiet Christmas, we turned around and headed to Houston for quick family trip.

The focus of the trip was to watch Navy play Missouri in the Texas Bowl and to have some quality time as a threesome. We did a lot of driving around, a little bit of shopping, some yummy eating, and some exploring in downtown Houston.

The game was GREAT and our seats were AWESOME! We were in the 4th row on the 40 yard line right behind Navy's bench. Navy trounced Missouri which was both surprising and exciting. We got to see the elder President Bush (as we figured we would) toss the coin. If you look REALLY closely, you can see him in the pictures. He's the one with the ball cap and blue blazer.








Just composing this post has made me kind of tired, so now I know why I felt so exhausted after our trips!

We closed out our year in a wonderful way and we started the new one with many hopes, dreams, and good intentions. We don't know what the new year holds but we pray it will be one of good health, happiness, and many blessings.

Merry Christmas

We are heading to California in the morning and I still have much to do before we walk out the door. No matter how early I start, there is always that crunch at the end and the struggle to get it all done.

I couldn't forget to wish you a very merry Christmas filled with lots of love, laughter, and happiness.

Looking forward to keeping up with you in 2010.

With love~

The Osborn Family

Don~Lisa~Lindy

What are your favorite things?

A couple Saturdays ago the three of us were eating lunch and the song "My Favorite Things" came on the radio. So, in an effort to encourage some discussion and family bonding, I proceeded to ask Don and Lindy what their favorite things are. And cue sound of crickets.

Yep, that's what I got crickets! A whole plague of them. Don kind of looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and I don't recall that he offered up one thing. Lindy didn't play either and she usually doesn't miss a moment to talk. I'm sure her answer would've been something like, "candy, chocolate, unicorns, and diamonds."

So, I'm hoping that maybe just one person will share their favorite things with me. It can be products, activities, people, places, etc. If I were a bit more tech savvy and less lazy, I'd add a Mr. Linky doo dad so you could add all your things on your blog and link right here to them. Sorry...

Hoping you'll share and that this time of remembering your favorite things will bring you great joy...

xoxo~
Lisa

PS-It wouldn't be fair to ask if I didn't play along, too. I'll work on compiling some ideas and share soon...

Breakfast with bloggy buds

A couple weeks ago I got an email in my Facebook inbox from, Jill, a friend I've "met" through blogging inviting me to get together with her and our mutual friend, Danielle. That was exciting mail! I gladly rearranged a couple of things on my calendar so I could join them. This morning I had the wonderful opportunity and pleasure to meet them for a lovely breakfast. It was a crisp, gorgeous morning here in south Texas and we went to Guenther House--one of my favorite places in town.

Jill and Danielle are absolutely precious and kind (and thin, and young, and talented). Our time together went by much too quickly. Here are a couple of pictures from our fun morning. Sorry they're so tiny...(Not sure what blogger is doing...)


I've been really fortunate to meet some great people through the blogosphere and am especially happy to have met these two young women today.

Happy Thanksgiving

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it." ~William Arthur Ward

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

May your day be filled with many blessings and much love~
Lisa

Introducing our Bamboo Baby

Lindy (2 months old) in her foster mother's arms July 2005

"...learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the cause of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

I will admit, I'm not a natural born fundraiser and I'm not really very good about asking for help. I'm typically not one to publicly advocate for things and I like to keep what I'm involved with kind of quiet. However, lately, I've been reconsidering things. After a lot of prayer, I believe I'm called to do things that aren't second-nature for me and to step out of my comfort zone. Thus, the reason for this post.

There are some who think the fact we adopted Lindy and are waiting to adopt again makes us special; we've even been called, "heroes." While we appreciate the kind words and sentiments we have received through the years, we don't feel like we're special or heroes because we adopted Lindy. We desperately wanted to become parents and we fulfilled our desires through the avenue of adoption. Truthfully, it is not something we had ever dreamed of doing and it was not really an easy road getting to that point.

Insert GIGANTIC however here! Adoption is now something we're completely convicted of and feel very strongly about. Our hearts have been pricked and verses that have been in the Bible for over two thousand years now leap off the pages and have greater meaning. It is heartbreaking for us to think about the millions of orphans in this world and Don and I both agree that adding children to our family to fulfill a desire and void isn't enough.

A couple months ago, a good friend of mine went to work for Pearl River Outreach. Up until about two weeks ago, I hadn't had the chance to check out the work they are doing. I was so excited and nearly jumped for joy when I found out they were helping children who are from the same orphanage Lindy was from in Changsha, Hunan. Their funds go to help the children in the orphanage, as well as those in foster care. Lindy was in foster care from two months old until we met her at just shy of 11 months. We are eternally grateful for all those who had generously donated funds to her foster program so she could receive such wonderful care and love.

We have decided to sponsor, "Lili," one of the children from Changsha. We loved the red thread connection we have with her--her birthday is one day (and three years) off of Lindy's (May 8, 2005) and May 9, 2005 was our log-in date for Lindy. It is our prayer that it won't be long until Lili meets her forever family. Until then, we hope she'll be taken care of extremely well, just like we know our sweet Lindy was.


Pearl River Outreach is still looking for some sponsors for their Bamboo Babies. If you're interested in helping, go to their blog or web.

On another exciting note, if you feel called to help but can't commit to a sponsorship, there is a fundraiser taking place right now for the orphanage in Changsha. The Meadows Family is trying to raise enough money to send 88 care packages to the children there. They are trying to raise $1000 by December 1st or they're requesting items such as socks, hats, mittens, toothpaste, and coloring books. If you'd like to know more about this special collection, please read about it here. What a wonderful teachable moment it would be to involve young children to help collect simple items for other children thousands of miles away.

I am excited about the special work being done in Changsha! I hope you'll join us in helping out these wonderful children. If you can't financially, they sure could use your prayers!

Thank you!

Many blessings~
Lisa

Will hike for diamonds

November 16, 1991
See the little black box???

Today is Don's birthday. It is also the day we got engaged 18 years ago. On his 24th birthday we drove to Lake Tahoe. I knew what was going to take place that day but acted like I didn't.

Don had always said that if a girl loved a guy enough a cheeseburger should be enough and that she didn't need a fancy, gigantic diamond ring to symbolize their love. I tried to modify his philosophies slightly but, honestly, I was so smitten with him, I would've gladly accepted just a cheeseburger. When we got to Tahoe, we did stop at McD*onald's and he sprung for a cheeseburger and then we set off to go hiking.

After a bit of a hike, we made it to the beautiful and scenic water's edge of Emerald Bay at Vikingsholm. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I forgot to say, "yes" and it is funny to me that my failure to answer actually caused him a slight scare. Eventually, I sealed the deal and we were married seven months later on June 13, 1992.

Judging by my pictures nowadays, he's showered me with more cheeseburgers than diamonds. It is probably time to work on adjusting his philosophy again AND maybe even plan a hike...

I never had heard of formal engagement pictures
but this was taken shortly after our engagement.

Proud of our veterans

"This nation will remain the land of the free
only so long as it is the home of the brave." ~Elmer Davis

I am so thankful for the men and women in the military who have served and continue to serve our country. I know it isn't an easy road. I used to laugh when Don would tell me he was weaving the blanket of freedom I sleep under every night. I no longer laugh at that statement.

On Monday I had to go to the mall and I got there a bit early. I had 1000 things to do that day and didn't want to lose one second of time. However, I went and got a mocha and decided to walk a bit--counterproductive, I know. Anyway, it was approaching 10:00 so I went to camp out in front of the store I was planning on dashing in and out of. I sat down next to this lovely couple in their 80s and it became the highlight of my day. The man was wearing a powder blue jumpsuit and a ball cap that read, "WW II Veteran." His wife was absolutely adorable and so incredibly sweet and kind. Immediately he started talking to me and she chimed in. I asked him which branch of the service he had served in and he asked me if I had heard of General Patton and then proceeded to tell me he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I thanked him for his service and suddenly rushing off to complete my errands didn't seem so important. He introduced me to another one of his friends--also there to walk--who had also served in WWII and jumped out of airplanes. It was a privilege and honor that day to be with men who had served in such a huge conflict and lived to tell about it.

On this day, I hope you will join me in thanking and praying for our veterans. I am especially proud to thank my husband, father, grandfather, great uncle, and uncle for their service in the Navy.

May God bless America!

Menu Plan Monday

I remember the good old days when every once in a while I would actually get motivated enough to post my weekly menu. It has been over a year since I've done that. I guess I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, so I thought I'd give it a whirl...

Monday, November 2nd-Chili & cheese turkey dogs on whole wheat buns, butternut squash, and another veggie (which honestly might be corn chips...NO JUDGING please)
Tuesday, November 3rd-Cranberry chicken over rice, green beans, garden salad
Wednesday, November 4th-Out
Thursday, November 5th-Pumpkin baked ziti, broccoli, salad
Friday, November 6th-Leftovers

I also am going to bring this dip with gingersnaps for MOPS on Friday and this salad for a potluck after Ladies Bible Class tomorrow.

I love seeing what other people are having for dinner here.

What's on your menu this week?