Open heart..open mind..open arms

First of all, to everyone reading who shared my post last week, bless you. I was overwhelmed by the sweet messages I got from friends and also from strangers who have adopted or are looking to adopt and want to share their story with us. That makes my heart so happy. It is amazing to make connections with people who are going through or who have experienced this journey. Also, it helps to talk to people who also have infertility issues and can truly say, I know how you feel.

Last week was full of adoption info for this girl. It was amazing to connect with a social worker who has 6 years of experience with adoption. Also, she is adopted and her 2 children are as well, so it was amazingly enlightening and informative to get her multi-perspective view on adoption. We were able to sit and have coffee and chat and it was great. I am so thankful for the connections I am making and know that everyone who is sharing their stories and offering guidance will help us along this journey!

I also attended an adoption panel that my company put together. It was great to hear stories from people who have adopted and really network and find people to mentor Jason and I as we enter this journey. So, I am going to keep educating myself and networking in each and every way possible to be prepared for this journey, which although beautiful, I am aware there will be bumps, bruises and possible heartache along the way. But, do you know what I say to that?! 2 things actually: 1. BRING IT ON!!!! & 2. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! #capthat I don't know why I said that and used a hash tag, but I saw it on Twitter once and thought it was cool. How's that working for me?!

On another note, Jason and I decided that we definitely want to end the life of being renters and try to be in a home, our home, when our lease is up in May. We have started the process and it is so exciting! As soon as we are settled in, then we can start the home study and really make the adoption process official! In the meantime, we plan to shop around for adoption agencies. I asked the question, "How do you decide what agency is best for you?", at the adoption panel last week and got the same answer from many who have adopted. They said that you just know and need to follow your gut. That made me hopeful, because the research process can be overwhelming and confusing. So, we will continue to read about local agencies, do our homework, make our list of questions and hopefully find one that is the right fit for us.

How exciting, huh?! Sometimes I just sit and smile and revel in all of my blessings. I think back to almost 3 years ago (cannot believe it has been almost 3 years) since my dad passed away and how far I have come emotionally in dealing with the effects of that loss and moving along in my grief journey. Loosing a parent is so hard and traumatic. I went through a rough patch after that. My dad and I were so close and that loss effected each and every aspect of my life. I am now able to focus on the positive things, for example, our last words to each other were I love you, we spoke on the phone everyday and I had 30 years with the most amazing dad ever. He may be gone, but I have a lifetime of memories that nothing can take away. He would be so proud of me and the decisions I am making. He would love Jason and be so happy that his little girl found someone to share her life with. He would also be the best grandpa EVER. Talk about spoiling! He would be ridiculous! And I would love every single second of it! I know he is smiling down at me and I can't wait to tell future baby Glassburn all about Grandpa Loren. Life is precious, people. My dad went to sleep and never woke up. I have changed my perspective so much because of this. You can never say I love you too many times. Always smile at strangers and be kind. Spend time with the people you care about. Don't hold grudges and learn to forgive. Holding hate in your heart takes up room where there could be precious love. Be grateful. Be graceful. And give lots of hugs. And high-fives. Because the world can always use more high-fives.

Jason and I start our 6 week finance classes this week! Wish us luck! We started a little early by trying to save money in the grocery department. We want to try to cut out eating out and what not. But there is something I don't know if I can give up. Movie theatre popcorn with extra butter. I dream about that delicious goodness. And we received 10 free movie tickets recently so it evens out, right?! I am sure I will be told no in finance class. Bummer. Goodbye, sweet movie theatre buttery popcorn goodness. (Moment of silence while I grieve, please...okay I'm over it!) We signed up for something called emeals, which is an affordable weekly meal planning service.( https://emeals.com/) It is even endorsed by Dave Ramsey, and that is the finance classes we are taking, so we should get the approval. Oh man, I just realized starting that early may make me a bit of a suck up! Oh well, I will deal with it! We signed up for the clean eating meal plan and the lunch meal plan. They email you your menu and a detailed shopping list every Sunday. They also have an iphone app so you can access everything on your phone! Awesome and convenient! So, I changed out of my Sunday sweat pants, had my coupons and weekly adds paired with my new meal plan grocery list and headed to the store! As I was shopping I kept thinking this is a bit much food for 2 Glassburns, but I rolled with it! Turns out I accidentally signed up for family plan and not the plan for 2. Uhhhh, my bad. But, I switched it so we are all set now. I spent about 3 hours prepping meals last night and was able to freeze the extras that I accidentally purchased. So to sum it up, we are on a plan and committed to sticking with it! This is all part of saving for the Glassburn residence and future baby Glassburn! Get excited, ya'll! I know we are!!

I will leave you with these glorious pictures...

My oh so full of healthy deliciousness cart from my first meal plan shopping list yesterday.

Jason's new cool lunch box so he can bring his awesome packed lunch to work and not go to Jimmy John's 3x a week. Sorry for calling you out, J! Love you, babe!

Have a super awesome week! And remember, don't be mean and give lots of hugs.

Brooke

New year, new outlook, lots of love

I hope you had the happiest of happy Holidays! And can you believe it is 2014 already?! Seriously. Where did 2013 go?! Saying goodbye was bitter sweet because it was such an amazing year. I spent the year planning my wedding, aka the Best Day Ever, and in August married my best friend in front of our closest friends and family on a beautiful farm. It was hot. Oh, my goodness it was hot! But beautiful and set the scene for a marriage full of love and detail. Detail in the sense of how much love and time we put into all aspects of our marriage.

The last few months of 2013, as I mentioned in my last post, I had a bit of an extended pity party. I was feeling so sad about not being able to get pregnant and felt sorry for myself. Then I woke up one day, looked in the mirror and shouted (well, not out loud, even though I deserved to be shouted at!) BROOKE ANNE GLASSBURN, GET OVER YOURSELFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!) The many f's signify how much I needed to get over myself! But after that I felt awakened. Awakened to the reminder that life is beautiful and I WILL be a mother someday. I found something on Pinterest the other day that was perfect (Hello, my name is Brooke and I am addicted to Pinterest. Like WHOA!)

I love this saying and need to get it put on a sign and read it every morning! Good thing I have an amazing friend, The Hobby Mommy, who makes the cutest signs and I just may have to have her do this one! Crystal Ward, if you are reading this, have I told you how nice you look lately?!

So, 2014. The year of major life changes. Instead of resolutions, which myself and millions of others are pumped about in January, we join gyms, we go Paleo, then by March we're back to sporting sweats, on the couch with our besties Ben & Jerry. So I wanted to do something different. Something that would help motivate me and stay focused, faithful and positive as Jason and I start our adoption journey. I picked a phrase to live by this year and that phrase is: "to live with grace". Recently, while at the Doctor, I was telling the nurse, whom I love by the way, that I was struggling a bit with my feelings about not being pregnant and getting frustrated when I hear people complain about their pregnancies and so on and so forth. She said something that really stuck with me, "you have to have grace for others and never expect them to know how you feel." I needed to hear that very message on that very day. I want to live a life full of grace and that is why this phrase is so important. I found a prayer that fits perfectly with this phrase:

Prayer to Live With Grace
May we discover through pain and torment,
the strength to live with grace and humor.
May we discover through doubt and anguish,
the strength to live with dignity and holiness.
May we discover through suffering and fear,
the strength to move toward healing.
May it come to pass that we be restored to health and to vigor.
May Life grant us wellness of body, spirit, and mind.
And if this cannot be so, may we find in this transformation and passage
moments of meaning, opportunities for love
and the deep and gracious calm that comes
when we allow ourselves to move on.

That is also something I should frame as a daily reminder!

As a family, Team Glassburn decided to pick a theme for the year. And here it is!:

 

 

We want to start this year on the right path and so far so good! And that path is: The path towards Baby Glassburn! Our first step is finances. We signed up for a 6 week Dave Ramsey course that starts at the end of this month. We are so ready to get finances squared away and start saving for a house and our adoption! We are also meeting with someone next week about buying a house! Big things in store this year for the Glassburns! We may have to give up some fun things for awhile, but I have a strong feeling it will all be worth it.

 

In the meantime, here in Indianapolis we are experiencing Snow-My-Gosh as I like to call it. We had 8-14 inches throughout the area and then it got COLD. And by COLD I don't mean 30. I mean -30 oh my-I-can't-feel-my-face-COLD!!! So during snow-my-gosh I have been spending some time reading while being. I downloaded some adoption books on my Kindle and am reading some amazing info. When it comes to the adoption process, I am in the, have-no-idea-where-or-how to start phase. I just want to soak up as much information as I can. I started to get a little overwhelmed and then I found a blog turned book by a cancer survivor/adoptive mommy. It is hilarious, It's called 99 Problems and a Baby Ain't One: A Memoir about Cancer, Adoption, and My Love for Jay-Z.

 

I haven't gotten to her adoption story yet, but I am sure it will be amazing, informative and hilarious!

Books on books on books! I want to read as many adoption books as I can. There's an episode of How I Met Your Mother (fav show, huge Marshall Eriksen fan) where Lily and Marshall are talking about trying to get pregnant and all Lily talks about is babies this and babies that. It drives her best friend Robin absolutely nuts. I kind of have a feeling this is going to be me, but about adoption of course. So friends and family, this is me apologizing but not apologizing for dropping some serious adoption knowledge on you! In all seriousness, we will be asking for so much support during this journey and to all of you reading, just sharing our story and getting the word out there and even offering any advice you have or experience with adoption, would be amazingly awesome and beyond appreciated!

 

In the midst of sipping my morning chai and cuddling with Brason the cat this morning, I got a work email that made me smile from ear to ear and reminded me that nothing is an accident. Prayers work. There are no such things as random coincidences and God has totally been winking at me (my cool way of saying sending me signs) about adoption in so many ways! I work for an amazing company. A company that values their employees, genuinely cares about their happiness and goes out of its way to show that. There is a group called ExactWin that is a networking group for working moms. To be honest I have never paid attention to the emails from this group, obvi, because I am not a momma. But today, the invite got my attention. Next week the group is hosting an adoption panel lunch. WOW. WOW. WOW. I could not believe: 1. how amazing it is that they are doing this and 2. the timing. I can not wait to attend and learn about so many aspects of adoption that I am clueless about and also to network with others who want to adopt or have adopted and can offer their stories and advice. And then, about an hour later, I received an email from someone whom a friend at work had connected me with. She is a social worker that does adoptions and we are going to meet soon and talk. Wow again. The timing is amazing. Coincidence?! No way. No way at all. God is winking at me like crazy!!!

 

Well, I need to get back to being the world's #1 cat mom and go cuddle with this little kitty/work from home!!

 

Have the best day ever and another theme of this year is: BLOG! BLOG! BLOG!

Happy 2014 from the Glassburn Fam