Indy 500 + 5 months

Rockin' our matching 7,990 hats

So, as you can see from the pictures, Roger and I spent our Memorial Day weekend at the Indy 500 with our good friends Kaylan and T.J. This was Roger's 27th consecutive year at the Indy 500, so he is definitely a pro at this event!! Bless his heart, he's had to "compromise" a little of his Indy 500 weekend schedule (like NOT getting to our parking spot at 6 a.m. the morning of race day when the race doesn't start until 1:00) since getting married, but he's been a real trooper about it.

We had a great time spending the weekend with Kaylan and T.J. who now live in Indianapolis, and the weather was perfect for the race. Luckily no rain but perfect cloud cover to keep the sun from beating down on us. The ending to the race was a might bit on the boring side since the leader led for the last 20 laps, but there were a couple wrecks right in front of us to keep us (I mean me) awake during the rest of the race. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the world's biggest race fan, but I really try to hang in there for Roger's sake because he loves it soooooo much. But, all negativity set aside, the Indy 500 truly is an awesome event to see. With more than 300,000 people in attendance, there's always guest celebrities, an awesome pre-race tribute to those who have served our country, a very cool flyover during the national anthem that never fails to bring me to tears, and of course watching and listening to race cars speed past you going 215+ miles per hour.

We also have season tickets to the Texas track for two NASCAR races and another Indy car race, so unfortunately I get burned out after attending only one race each year. The seven-hour drive to each track I don't think helps the situation. But I know once we have our baby, my attendance at the races will dwindle even further, so if anyone would love to see an Indy race or NASCAR race, Roger is always looking for friends who would like to go along. He really does deserve to experience the races with people who enjoy them as much as he does since he has such a love for the sport, and I, unfortunately, am not that person, as much as I would like to be.

On another note, we hit five months of waiting this past Saturday! Our estimated time to a referral we were told is still six to nine months, so we are getting there! Our agency told us "around September" is a likely guess, but she's hoping it will be sooner. I'm unsure if our wait time will be lengthened due to the abandonment issues that are being investigated (and hopefully resolved) by the courts and authorities in Ethiopia, but as of now I haven't been told our referral will be affected. So far our May has been super busy and it looks like the rest of the summer will be much the same way, so right now I'm okay with waiting until September if that's what it ends up being. I'm just hoping, hoping, hoping we don't end up waiting for our referral into the winter months. I very well understand with international adoption there is no guaranteed timeline, but one can always hope; right? I told Roger he needs to start visualizing us receiving our referral, and he says it's really difficult. I guess it's sometimes surreal to picture us EVER becoming parents.

It must be summer...

Let me start this short post by saying I have the greatest wife ever. Ever. It seems like each spring when the weather starts to get (and stay) warm, I always want to do two things. One Abby is always on board with. The other not so much. Long story short, for my 30th birthday we decided to get a Jeep. Abby did all the research, negotiated the price, and made the final deal for us. (She still won't drive it because it's a stick shift. She can drive a stick shift; she just won't do it. Or so she says.) So, back to #1 on the list of things to do when summer comes around.

For the first time since March 7, Springfield is experiencing seven straight days without rain. All the warm weather + no rain + Roger not wanting to watch the season finale of Dancing With The Starts means a night in the garage taking the top off the Jeep for the summer. Not just taking the top down, taking the top completely off. No top on the Jeep until winter. This is the one thing Abby is always on board with. In fact, no more than four minutes after the top was down we had Jack & Jill in the back and we were off for the first top-down ride of the summer. Excellent. And even better, QT has $0.49 fountain drinks. Perfect destination for a quick Jeep ride. OK, enough delay....on to the second thing I always want to do and Abby sometimes puts up with.

I buzzed/shaved my head tonight. Every spring I want to shave my head and Abby usually talks me out of it. Until I bug the crap out of her by talking about it so much she just throws her hands in the air and says, "Whatever." So, the top is down and the head is shaved. Summer has arrived!

More discoveries

Abby just reminded me that I discovered a baby rabbit while mowing
this morning. Happy ending; I discovered before I hit it. Safe baby
bunny. Everyone wins. I also discovered that technology is amazing and
this mobile blogging works. (Still need to work on the spacing, but
I'm still impressed.) Getting car sick.....

Mobile blogging

So I'm trying to see how great technology is at this point on my life.
We are headed to Iowa and I'm typing this on my iPhone while Abby
cruises along at 79.5 mph

This morning was full of discoveries. While packing Abby found the
"expecting from Africa" necklace she lost three weeks ago. I
discovered a cigar in an old backpack. Here's the kicker, I don't
smoke. So either Abby's boyfriend left it there or her dad left it
there when he borrowed the pack and went to Mexico. (she's claiming it
is her dad's. We'll ask him tonight.)

Pops Wasson had knee surgery this week so we've been hanging out with
him quite a bit. Most people would schedule surgery/recovery around
the final four or during football season. Pops scheduled it around the
NASCAR all star weekend. Oh man!

Ok, that's enough for now. Hopefully I didn't waste all this time
typing. I'm visualizing this working perfectly.
Roger

Gathering 5.7.09

I'm sorry it's taken so long to get these pictures posted from our get-together last Thursday. Let me just say, what a fabulous time!! Great food, great weather, great company. What more do you need?!? Roger and I had so much fun seeing all the kiddos and visiting with their parents and also quite a few parents-to-be. We were so impressed and thrilled with the great turnout (44!) and we're hoping this will become a monthly event. Not only is it special to get the kids together, I think it's just as important and special to be able to have "adoption conversation" with other families who share the same experiences. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the party and bringing a snack to share. It was so wonderful to see you all. Thank you also to the Hyman family for bringing the biggest hit of the night: The Bounce House! Luckily, we had beautiful weather and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Some photos from the gathering...

The Secret

OK, go ahead and laugh. Lord knows my wife does each and every time I talk about "The Secret." For those of you that are unfamiliar, "The Secret" is a book written on the principle that basically the universe is all about attraction. If you think good things, then good things will come to you. If you think negative thoughts, then you will bring negative things into your life. First of all, I only believe in God and that everything in our lives is due to His plan. However, I don't think it's a bad thing to go through life with a positive attitude.


So, I'm lazy and don't like to read so I downloaded "The Secret" onto my laptop. Every month or so I will play the movie to get my thoughts back on track. Then for a week after I watch the movie I have this very positive outlook and I'm always trying to get those around me to be positive as well. This is where my "realist" of a wife usually gets "real" with me and laughs. But it's pretty amazing the great parking spots you can get if you visualize getting a good parking spot in your head. For an entire day I was thinking about a can of Red Bull and then when we went to dinner that night, the valet left a can of Red Bull on the curb. Of course I didn't take the can, but now I know I have to actually visualize drinking the can of Red Bull instead of just visualizing the can. (Right now I'm visualizing my dog Jill being quiet and going to sleep in her bed -- stay tuned to see if that happens.)


Anyway, enough about "The Secret" -- Just some interesting reading if you're looking for something to read this summer. Big news in my/our world....the BlackBerry has died. That's right, the CrackBerry that Abby hates more than anything else in the entire world passed away last weekend. Monday I made the leap to the iPhone. Still don't know about it. I miss the BB, but I'm sure in a month or so I will be in love with the iPhone and no longer care about my beloved BB.

(For those of you keeping score at home, Jill just jumped off our bed and tried to go into her kennel to sleep, but Tee-Tee, the killing-machine cat had made a nest in the kennel so Jill is back on the bed.) Dang, you have to be very specific when you start visualizing what you want.


Did we tell you Tee-Tee (the Great White Killer) has been hard at work this spring? So far we have 1 lizard (minus the tail), 3 snakes, 1 mouse, and 1 baby bunny that Tee-Tee has brought to the back door to show us. She's so proud. And I'm actually proud of her as well. She's the only animal in this house that is carrying her weight. At least she has a job. Jack and Jill do nothing all day and expect two meals for sleeping. Tee-Tee's reward is me "allowing" her to sleep on my feet at night. I say "allow" because I hate it, but if I kick too hard then she goes flying off the bed and Abby gets ticked at me. Pick your battles. Pick your battles.


As long as I am being random, I have to tell you this great new tool we discovered this past week. I have 3 pair of jeans that I absolutely love. Love so much I wore holes through them. You know what? Did you know you can save those jeans? And I'm not talking about cutting them off and making them jean shorts.... but they are selling jean shorts (for dudes) this season at Urban Outfitters. S-C-A-R-Y! You can save those jeans by putting patches on them. And Mom Wass has this great new machine called a "sewing machine" (not sure if I spelled that right) that actually sews the patches onto the jeans. Amazing. Remember when you were a kid and your mom would try to save jeans and put patches on them and you would get all embarrassed? Now I'm the opposite. I can't wait to wear my newly patched jeans! (Thanks, Mom!)


Abby and I went to Sam's last Thursday to purchase some formula for the orphanages in Addis Ababa. We used the money from our t-shirt sales (thanks to everyone) and the money we made from our garage sale (thanks to the suckers that bought our stuff) and were able to purchase 22 cans of extra-large formula. In case you were wondering what that might look like, I have included a photo for your viewing pleasure:

Yes, Jill is sporting her "Too Short But It Will Grow Back" spring haircut while she inspects the formula

That will be enough randomness out of me. The cat is out of the kennel and both dogs are snoring on the bed. Still visualizing Jill in her bed.....

(And I do know that you are supposed to put a space between paragraphs to make it more appealing to the eyes. I know this. And I do this. But for some reason Blogger hates me. I swear, I'm switching to Wordpress. I'll do it. Just watch! If only I would have visualized double spacing for my blog.) Visualized it working...and Ta-Da!