Thunder!

Now that finals are done and the semester is over, I have a short break, so I hope to post more! Some of Eric's friends say that he manages to squeeze twenty-six hours out of every day; I'm still waiting for him to impart that wisdom so that I can have the same luxury!

The Oklahoma City Thunder have made it into the playoffs! This has been an exciting year for OKC's team, and we have had so much fun going to the games. We decided to renew our season tickets for next year, so we have begun collecting Thunder gear for our little guy. The Rumble t-shirt on the left is from a fantastic local boutique in Oklahoma City called Collected Thread, run by friends Adam and Lindsay Zodrow. It's a great place for handmade gifts, and I highly recommend it. (Shameless plug: Check out Lindsey's site at http://www.collectedthread.com/ and go shopping!)

I think what we have been most excited about is the Rumble backpack, center. We have said all season long that we would definitely get one before play ended. At the last game Eric attended, he had all intentions of picking one up on his way out. Lo and behold, Rumble backpacks were sold out! I experienced my first "to what lengths will I go to to find a (insert highly sought-after toy, game, movie, video game, etc., here) for my child?!" moment and remembered my parents' story of forgetting my Care Bear, the only thing on my Christmas list. Upon arriving at my grandparents' house, they made the discovery, and, after much thought, my dad decided to drive the forty-five miles back to our hometown in a white-out blizzard just so I could open the Care Bear on Christmas morning. Although I did not have to put that much effort into finding Rumble, I understand how you felt, Mom and Dad. After two mall stops and some quick thinking, I ordered Rumble from www.nbathundershop.com, and Rumble came a few days later. Phew, crisis averted!

So now, an update on where we are in our process: We just received our login and password information for our online education. We have to complete ten hours, and then we'll be able to set up our home study. We visited Ikea a few weeks ago and now have socket protectors and cabinet and drawer pull contraptions running out our ears. We are working on baby-proofing; if any of you would like to donate your small children for an afternoon to help us find out our weak spots, let us know! I have also begun to find inspiration for the nursery, which we will start on soon. We've got our crib choices narrowed down, and I have the recycled Sari blanket Eric gave me for Christmas as well. We're getting there, slowly but surely! We have two months to compile our first "mailer," which includes our home study approval and dossier. If you don't know what a dossier is, let me tell you: A dossier is basically a paper record of everything that has ever happened to you in your life. Ever. I'm sure there's a line in the fine print that asks us to list what we had for supper on January 17, 1997, and we will go to great lengths to ensure that info is there. I'm quickly learning that adoption is not for the faint of heart, but we have the love and support of some fabulous people!

We were so glad to be able to have lunch with a family friend, Todd McRay, this week. He performed our wedding and has shown us such love, support, and guidance throughout the last few years. I'm headed to Dallas this weekend to an engagement celebration for Sarah, who will marry my cousin James this summer. Photos to come. 

Eric has three more weeks of school left, and then he will slow down...haha, yeah right! He will be teaching art workshops at City Arts for kids, and he'll continue to work at Blue Seven. He's got several projects going and has some photo shoots and art shows in the works as well, so he'll stay pretty busy. I have a three-week break before I start an online class, and I will be doing summer camps with GEAR UP for SUCCESS in the month of June. It's going to be a busy summer, but I will definitely make time for the pool, and we hope to have a couple of weekend trips to visit friends and family.