Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Eve with the Shackletons & Orrs

Today Dan was supposed to work a 12.5 hour shift but his boss is going to let him off early! So tonight this is where we will be:

Playing flute at the church Christmas Eve service. Then. . .


Hanging out with four of my five cute nephews!

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!

A Day in L.A.!

I am always encouraging my very studious AP students to get out of their normal routine and try something new that they haven't done before. We recently finished studying a post-modern novella by Banana Yoshimoto called Kitchen. In this novella, which was originally written in Japanese, the main character Mikage relates love and family relationships to food. She does not eat food, she SAVORS food. Yesterday my AP Lit. students and I decided to take a trip to L.A. and savor the local flavors. We decided to take the metro rather than drive in our cars so that we could take in more of the culture and see the L.A. natives close up. It was SUCH a fun day!

We started in Norwalk on the metro green line and transferred lines until we arrived at the historic Grand Central Station in downtown L.A. We walked across the street to Olvera street where the oldest house in L.A. is located along with great Mexican shops and treats. Dan and I shared a churro, taquitos, and chile relleno. Yum! Many of the students walked across the street to have lunch at the historic luncheon counter, Philippe's, where they feasted on french dip sandwiches. After Olvera street we took a 15 minute walk to Little Tokyo to endulge in our favorite Japanese treats. We had mochi ice cream, katsudan, and Japanese bakery items. After a quick stop at the Buhddist Temple and the original Los Angeles Times building we headed over to the historic Grand Central Market across the street from the famous Bradbury building. There we sampled Mexican pastries, pupusas from El Salvador, and ceviche. We then headed back to Norwalk on the metro after a full day and VERY full stomachs! Today I enjoyed being a teacher! Much thanks to Dan for coming along to keep me company and be the camera man!

A True Hero

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."



Eric Liddell(Olympic Gold Medalist in Track and Field as portrayed in Chariots of Fire:

You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, "Believe, have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.

Do you long to feel "God's pleasure" in your life? To know that He made you for a purpose and you are living your life in accordance to that purpose?

Learn more about Eric's life here.

P.S. Since most all marathons take place on SundayI always thought someone should start a marathon (or even a 5k) on a Saturday in honor of Eric Liddell.

Another BIG Bend in the Road

This week brought another change in our adoption journey. In our quest to find a lawyer who knows embryo donation/adoption we discovered that this is a very specialized field. We finally were referred to a woman whom a lawyer said could help us. She is a lawyer who helped lay the legal groundwork for the Snowflakes program with Nightlight Christian Adoptions. The Snowflakes program had been our first choice for our embryo adoption but their costs were much higher than the NEDC and Miracles Waiting.

To make a loooong story short after several phone conversations we were advised to be very careful about pursuing a match through Miracles Waiting (although I know a few couples that have been very happily matched!)and we have learned that our legal expenses would be fairly significant with the MW option. We also learned that Snowflakes (whose office is a mere 20 min. drive from our house) has a matching option that we were not privy to before that lowers the cost of our embryo adoption through them by $3600 and we would be first on the list to be matched. They have approx. 70 donors waiting at this time.

On some level I feel ridiculous that we have changed our mind so many times in the last two weeks but I am excited that Dan and I have decided to go with Snowflakes. We have realized through our experiences with NEDC, MW, and Embryos Alive that they are the best match for us in our adoption journey. Since this is our first adoption I am glad we will have the help of an agency in communicating with the genetic family, coordinating the transfer of the embryos from the donor clinic to our clinic, and the expertise of their experienced legal staff. I like that we won't have to travel to TN- although I would LOVE to visit Nashville someday!

This week Dan and I worked on filling out our Snowflakes application, recipient agreement, and fertility clinic paperwork. Today I dropped off tons of paperwork that Snowflakes needed to open our file. We will be making a formal adoption profile that will be shown to potential donor couples to help them decided if they would like to give us their embryos. It is a much more extensive profile than the NEDC required, more like a domestic adoption family profile. At the Snowflakes office the program coordinator said that our application would be processed next week and that as soon as they get our profile (which I plan on having done before Christmas) we will start the matching process. She feels that since their donor pool is so large right now and they don't have a long recipient line we will be matched fairly quick. Once we are matched it will take a month or two to get all the paperwork in order and the embryos shipped to our clinic in L.A. Our transfer will very likely happen in early Spring!

I totally get why they call adoption a "journey"!

Thank you for praying for us. I sense God's hand in all of this turmoil. I know our story will be an amazing one and I can't wait to see how His will unfolds in our lives. . . through joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure. . . I know He is there.

BAAAAAD DOG!

A year ago my dog loving neighbors and friends found a homeless dog. We all tried to find the owner. She was so sweet and friendly. Dan wanted this dog and the friends wanted us to have this dog. I know from experience how much exercise and work a dog can be. I said no. Dan said please. I caved and we have a dog.

I like the dog. It likes me. We go on runs together. . . it sleeps on its own bed in our room. . and sometimes it sleeps IN OUR bed becuase Dan loves his dog and I'm a softy. . . I buy it bones and toys and treats and soft pillowy dog beds. . . I feed it quality lamb and rice dry food at 5:30am every morning before work. . . I pet it and talk to it in a soft loving voice. . .and we teach it discipline: to walk without pulling, sit when told, don't lick, don't bark, don't steal my socks, etc.

I have learned to live with the dog.
She is mostly a good dog.
But then I woke up this morning to this:







BAD DOG!!!

(Great emotional restraint was practiced in the writing of this blog post.)

New Phase in our Adoption Journey

After a week of deep discussion, prayer,and research Dan and I have decided to actively begin searching for embryos to adopt. We are still "in line" with the NEDC but have decided to also place a recipient profile with Miracles Waiting and keep watch on the available embryos on Embryos Alive.

With Embryos Alive we would do the transfer in CA and the cost is close to the NEDC (given that we would have to pay nearly $1,000 for traveling expenses each time we fly to TN) but we will have a much smaller pool of donor families to choose from.

With Miracles Waiting we would have to do more administrative work: find a lawyer to draw up the transfer contracts, coordinate with our fertility clinic and the donor's fertility clinic, and comminicate more openly with the donor family without the help of an agency.

If we find a good match through Miracles Waiting or Embryos Alive before the NEDC schedules our mock transfer appointment then we will go with them instead. It is nice to have options and exciting to think that there is a possibility that our transfer will take place in early spring rather than late summer. So thankful for the support of our families and friends and the advice of our fellow embryo adoption friends. We shall see where we go from here!
++++++++++UPDATE 12/7/09+++++++++++++
We found a great lawyer with experience in embryo adoption but he won't help us because he only does contracts through Snowflakes. Boo! So we are still looking. We did find a local fertility clinic that has come highly recommended by our EA friends! Yea!