SURPRISE!!!!!!

No, I did not all of a sudden get travel dates. However, that was the sound I heard recently when my coworkers thew us a surprise shower. I can honestly say that other than the Saturday morning in 2003 when Jon showed up at my house and proposed to me while I was doing laundry, I have NEVER been that surprised!! What surprised me even more is that Jon knew for weeks and I still had no idea. My spidey senses must really be off.

Anyway, the company had us all corralled at a conference center a couple of weeks ago (I know, another late post). It was two days of meetings so we were there overnight. Jon and I work for the same company so we were both there. Anyway, I had just come out of a meeting when Yasmin (Queen of the surprise shower) asked where I was headed. I don't even remember what I said and then she says "come here I have some scoop for you". Of course that's all it took and I was following here anywhere. I'm just that mature.

She opened the door to another conference room and SURPRISE!!! There were streamers, balloons, decorations galore. And presents - lots and lots of presents. I think I was speechless (that fact alone is a surprise). As soon as I was able to take it all in I cried. Not just a few tears. It was the take off your glasses and put your face in your hands kind of cry. I was just blown away. Of course there were also Mimosas being served so the tears quickly turned into giggles.

Jon and I are so blessed to have such great friends. Everyone at work has been so supportive since we started this journey back in 2005. Honestly I can't say enough how much I appreciate each and every one of them. And a special thank you to Yasmin, Bradley, April, Amy, Jenna and Caleb for throwing us such a fantastic shower.

A Baby In China

Our adorable next door neighbor "F" is in kindergarten. She and her brother "C" are excited about LuLu and love to come over and look at "the baby's room." And of course, I love to show them. Last week, F's class wrote a story. It was one of those stories where someone comes up with the title and then everyone gets to add a sentence. F got to come up with the title - you will see why that is significant when you read the story. Here is the story that F and her genius classmates wrote.

A Baby In China

Once upon a time there was a baby who could play baseball. She was from China. She ate eyeballs for dinner. Her name was Sam. Her favorite food was cucumbers. Sam lived in Florida near Disney. Her Dad was named Sparkle. He was a knight.

February Happens

Where have I been? What happened to me? February, that’s what happened. If February was a movie, it would be Steel Magnolias. A crazy combination of gut-wrenching sorrow and side-splitting laughter. During the first week of February, we lost Jon’s best friend due to very tragic circumstances. I had no idea how to write about it when it happened and honestly I still don’t have the words. I can only say that I hope he has now found the peace that he was not able to find while he was alive. We miss you, Jason.

Not long after that, I spent my girl-friend weekend with BFF Andree’ in Vegas. What a blast!!! We had not even checked into the hotel yet when Andree’ made me laugh so hard that I snorted loud enough for the guy in line behind us to comment. And the laughter did not stop until we said our goodbyes at the airport.

And since we apparently didn’t have enough going on, Jon and I started suddenly looking at houses while out for a Sunday drive, called our realtor friend, found a house we liked, made an offer, had our offer accepted and then put our current house on the market. We close on the new house on March 21st. No, we haven’t sold our current house yet but there has been lots of interest so we have our fingers crossed. Besides, one thing that can probably speed up the rate of referrals is two mortgage payments. I know we are all tired of speed up rumors, but I am telling you this could work.

Big Fun On The Horizon

Ok after a string on less than jovial posts about waiting for a referral and the Holidays, there is some big fun on the horizon!!! I spoke with my BFF Andree' yesterday and it seems we both have a bad case of cabin fever that needs to be cured ASAP. Andree' has been pounded with winter weather for the last month and her kids have had waaaaaay too many snow days. I have a different strain of cabin fever. My case is due to the fact that our dossier is STILL not out of the review room in China. Yes, our dossier has been in China since last March but we still have not cleared the review from the officials in China. Hopefully there will be an update soon. I can just picture our poor little dossier sitting on the shelf in the review room singing Boat Drinks by Jimmy Buffet
"This mornin, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm"

OK, back to the big fun. Andree' has a weekend pass from her many obligations and I am going to take a couple of days off from work and we are headed to Las Vegas for a long weekend next month. (Note to self: Remember to officially request vacation days...C.B. if you are reading this, consider this my offical request.) We are going to hang out, go to the spa, see a show and laugh. Few people in this world can make me laugh the way Andree' can.