Exciting News Is Coming!

Earlier this month I mentioned The Fog is Lifting. I began this new leap of faith without being able to fully see where I was jumping. Because He asked me to. Because I trust Him.

It's exciting and terrifying. I'm going to be putting myself out there in a whole new way and there are fears, like anything new we face. I fear a lot of things in this process, but I realize that all of my fears are of things I can't see and can't control.

But the great and exciting part is: I've jumped! I'm in the free fall and it's exhilarating! God has given me a new passion, a new joy, and I'm head-over-heels! And the best part...

It's for you! Yes, you.

I can't share all the details yet, but I've been working like crazy the last few weeks. I'm super close to unveiling my new website and all the excitement. Stay tuned. Until then, I leave you with some fun facts for the day. Enjoy.

How NOT to Prepare for an Event

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend my first blog conference, Blog Elevated. I was super excited to learn all things blog, meet new people and just have a fun little weekend.

l-r: Me, Justina, Kristen, Jessica

In preparation for this new adventure, I read a lot of great blog posts like 8 Tips to Rock Your Blog Conference and In My Conference Bag and When Your Style Goes From URL to IRL. Ya'll, I'm a seasoned traveler and a preparation nerd. I'm an over planner. I have been since my competitive diving days, and it's carried over into the few family trips we've taken.

However.

Something has started concerning me in recent weeks. I've been trying to deny it and keep it a secret. But it's gotten to a severe enough stage that I can no longer avoid discussing it. I seem to have developed a mild-to-moderate health condition.

There's this old wives tale that when you become pregnant you can develop a condition called "baby brain." I scoffed at this. I never had any issues remembering things in my first pregnancy. Then I birthed the kid. And not too long after, we went and got another one. Just a year later, we had number 3. In the months since number 3's birth, my brain function has severely depleted. In fact, I've discovered that my mental state seems to be a direct reflection of the number of times number 3 wakes up during the night. If number 1 or number 2 get up as well, I'm almost catatonic the following day.

I've mentioned my Mommy Burnout on here before, but now we're beginning to see the fallout.

The may look cute, but don't let those smiles fool you.
Sweet angels by day, evil geniuses at night.

I think some all of you parents reading this can probably relate. If you can't, well, I may not be able to talk to you for a few years out of sleep envy.

The conference was just a hop, skip and jump from our neck of the woods down to Galveston, so we decided to make a family trip out of it. I researched Moody Gardens til I had it memorized. I knew everything there was to know about our destination AND the conference. But in my sleep deprived stupor, I apparently neglected a few important details.

View from our floor at the Moody Gardens Hotel.

Every once in a great while, we will have moments of brilliance. Unfortunately they are generally followed by equally incredible moments of absurdity. We packed every single thing in the house needed to possibly take care of the kids while we were away. We managed to leave right at nap time which meant all three kids promptly fell asleep in the car. Perfect. Beautiful. Hubby and I even got to have long conversations on the drive down while sleep was happening in the back seat.

When we arrived at the hotel, I bounced happily into the lobby to check us in while my family patiently waited in the car. I gave the lady my name and waited. And waited. She asked me if it could be under a different name. I tried my maiden name. She looked concerned. I started to panic. She asked if I had a confirmation number. I started to look through my email on my phone and dread set in. I didn't remember ever getting a confirmation email. As many times as I checked out the hotel and called to ask questions, I don't remember ever going through the booking process. And there it is... we didn't have a room.

Fortunately there was a room available, though, phew...

Me with the littles in the sprinkles wandering around.

We hauled everything up to the room, wandered around a bit, ate dinner, then went back to the room so I could get ready for the welcome reception. After discovering that I had forgotten to pack some... ahem... unmentionables, we also realized that we hadn't really told or prepped the girls that I would be leaving at bedtime for an event. So my poor husband was left to put three mildly upset kids to bed, in one room, in the dark, in a strange place by himself. This became the norm for all sleep and nap times for the weekend.

But this is why I'm nominating Hubby for Daddy of the Year. Count 'em- 1, 2, 3!

All three sleeping peacefully in the hotel room.

 

Although I was up almost every hour each night we were there, I had the honor of an early breakfast date with a daughter each morning.

Friday morning with Zoe.

Saturday morning with Arella.

And I met awesome new friends each day and night.

 

l-r: Me, Becky, Maureen, Bon, Cathi

Although I wasn't all put together and may have been sporting super attractive bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep, I still received a boatload of education, had a blast and left feeling more confident and with a lot of very cool new friendships.

Thank you Blog Elevated (Bobbie and Lisa) for creating such an awesome conference that I could enjoy and learn from even in my current state of lunacy.

Hoping to check it out again in 2015 with a little more sanity in tow.

Orphan Hope

So the other weekend, Eriek and I joined some friends and ran in the Orphan Hope Marathon relay.

Let me stress the relay part of it as I am certainly not an endurance athlete!  Being charged with running the shortest leg of the relay (4.6 miles in the hilly trails of Huntsville) was a little intimidating for me, so an entire marathon is definitely not on my near future to-do list.

Since beginning our journey of adoption back in September of 2009, I think a lot about our little chinababy, Zoe.  I wonder what she looks like and what her little personality will bring to our family.  I wonder who her biological parents are and what they are like.  I wonder what the troubling circumstances are that surround her little life.  I wonder what is so hard on the parents that they have to give her up.  I wonder how they abandon her.  I worry about her being left on a dangerously busy street, or on a cold, rainy morning, or in a crowded market where no one can hear her cry.  I worry about how well the orphanage is taking care of her.  It breaks my heart to know she might be crying but no one can pick her up to soothe her, so I cry with her and I pray through our tears.   I pray for her constantly, and I pray for those around her, taking care of her.  And I wonder who is praying for the others...

My heart has definitely been broken for the orphan, specifically my little Zoe, but now I feel connected and burdened for all of them.  So when my sweet friend Danielle (who is also adopting!) suggested doing the marathon relay for Orphan Hope International, I had no hesitation at all and even roped my husband and friend Jill into completing our team!

Orphan Hope International's mission is "to positively transform the lives of vulnerable children and those ministering to them through Christ-centered Mission Trips, Padrino Program, Adoption Awareness, Safe Houses and Vacation Host Program."  This marathon was specifically to raise money to build a safe house in Columbia.  I love these organizations that have such huge hearts for some of our littlest ones in need!

Our team name was Team Hope, and the verse we were given was Psalm 31:24.  So of course I had to make team shirts because that's just what a girl's gotta do.

 

I made the back of our shirts for Zoe

 

And the back of Danielle's shirt for their Ethiopian baby

 

Of course Arella wanted to support the cause too...

(it's says "Zoe's Big Sister")

 

After the marathon was over, Danielle captured so beautifully into words the journey of adoption, I just have to share her quote:

"I can only imagine that the journey of adoption is very similar to the marathon I ran today . . . You start with a burst of energy, the dream of your adopted child hard and fast on your heart, then you settle into a steady pace: research, applications, paperwork . . . there are setbacks, moments you think, maybe I should have stopped and turned around a long time ago . . . you think the path is going one way, almost to the finish, and then you realize an unexpected turn has happened, you still have a long way to go . . . but you're never alone and you can't do it without those who love you (in fact, I only ran 8.5 miles of the marathon today, three other friends ran too, and many others were there to support us) . . . and all the while you know you will make it to the finish line, because you were made to do this. You were made to be courageous and strong, you were made to have faith and live in God's will. You were made to love sacrificially. You were made to run the race set out before you with endurance. And the reward will be better than you could have ever imagined!"

Here is part of Team Hope- Danielle, me, Arella (honorary member) and Eriek

 

 And here's Danielle with our clutch final teammate Jill!

Thank you God for this awesome journey we have found ourselves on!

Austin WETS Banquet

Two weeks ago we took a little trip up to Austin for the annual WETS banquet.  It was Arella's first road trip (she did awesome), and it was a great time to catch up with old Texas teammates, coaches and friends!

A nice little family picture

The Erwin Award winners

Vera & I with our UT coach Matt Scoggin

A very cool cow with Texas Hall of Famers painted on it by the amazing Robert Hurst.

 On our way home we got stuck in traffic after a car was rear ended off the road.  It started a fire and with the super dry Texas weather and the winds kicking up, it spread fast.  Fortunately everyone seemed to be okay.

Austin Fun

Sorry this is long overdue!  A couple of weekends ago, women's swimming and diving NCAA's were in Austin, so Eriek and I decided that would be a perfect final get-a-way for us before baby Arella comes.  So for our final weekend as a couple, all we could talk about, of course, was the baby :)  A fun surprise was the restaurant right by our hotel is called Baby A's and then right across the street we found a Zoe's Kitchen.  (Zoe is what we've named our baby we're adopting from China, still a few years away).  So we felt like both of our baby girls were represented that weekend!

We stayed at Embassy Suites and they not only have the most amazing hot breakfast, but they have this really cool pond with swans and giant koi fish!  This definitely made us feel like we were on vacation!

One of the things I really wanted to do while we were there was try and get some good maternity pics.  Austin is so scenic and beautiful, I was just hoping to find the right spot and get one or two good shots.  Eriek did an amazing job as photographer giving me about 30 shots I just love!  Here are some of my favs:

Of course taking pictures around Lake Travis works up an appetite, so we just had to stop for lunch at the infamous Oasis!  They have built this place up so much since my last visit that it's becoming a big tourist attraction, but it still has that magical view...

And I found the lovely diving statue, which always makes this place feel a little more like home.

And one final picture to leave you with.  Austin, although more liberal than the rest of Texas, is located in Texas, and you know we like to cling to our guns here in this great state.
So this is why you "Don't Mess With Texas."

St. Baldrick's

Eriek and I went to a local Irish pub, the Goose's Acre, on Sunday to celebrate St. Baldrick's.  Never heard of it?  It's way more fun than just wearing green on St. Patrick's Day.  It all started on March 17, 2000, when some people turned their St. Patrick's Day party into a head-shaving event to benefit kids with cancer. Their 20 "shavee" recruits planned to raise "$17,000 on the 17th." Instead, they raised over $104,000!  Now 11 years later they have raised over $57 million for St. Baldrick's Foundation (the charity they started after that initial head-shaving event) which is committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.

So, pretty cool concept.  I've donated my hair before (cutting off 10-12") to make wigs for kids with cancer, but I'm not sure if I have the guts to shave my whole head.  But there are many who are- men, women and kids.  But you don't have to shave your head to help the cause, just be part of the events as it's now world-wide!    
St. Baldrick's Foundation

Here are some fun pics from the event:

John lead off the day by shaving his greenish-teal hair... not sure why they left the beard...

Then we had some brave little men...

And I was most impressed with these women...

A lot of fun was had, a lot of hair was donated, and even more hair floated away in the breeze and into the Waterway.  Hopefully one of these days we'll be able to knock out cancer just as easily!

Texas Sports Hall of Fame

On Monday night I had the great honor of being inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco, TX.  I had thought this was more of a Hall of Fame for professional men's sports as there aren't a whole lot of women or amateur athletes that have been inducted.  But low and behold they voted little old me into the 2010 class, becoming the second diver inducted (David "Skippy" Browning) and the 18th woman out of 320 inductees.

I'm still surprised and greatly honored that the committee that voted me in views my accomplishments within the realm of these other amazing athletes and people.  Donna Lopiano was another inductee this year and she is one of the people who paved the way for women athletes in college at University of Texas, me being one of those athletes who greatly benefited.  The other amazing inductees were Pro Football Hall of Famers John Randle, the Vikings standout, and Emmitt Thomas, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs; Baseball Hall of Fame honoree Willie Wells, an Austin native who played in the Negro Leagues from the 1920s through the 1940s, former NFL quarterback Charley Johnson, Dallas Cowboys founder Clint Murchison Jr., former Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson and former Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg.

(We weren't totally ready for the above pic, but it'll do!)

The whole evening was so exciting and I'm thrilled that both my college coach, Matt Scoggin, and my long time club coach (17 years), Kenny Armstrong, were both able to be there with my family!  

I grew up as a gymnast wanting to be the next Mary Lou Retton long before I ever found my way into diving.  Of all the amazing things about this experience, one that really tickles my fancy is that I now have my Wheaties Box next to Mary Lou Retton's Wheaties Box in the Hall of Fame.

Ah... thanks God for allowing such a fun and special evening for my family and friends!