Another new chapter...

I FINALLY have a job!!! And what's even better is that I had 2 offers from the same hospital and had the opportunity to make a choice about which road to take. After much deliberation, soul-searching and blessing counting I decided to take the path to a position in the Acute Cardiac Care Unit...a critical care position with the possibility of day shift (to be determined after orientation).

I have wanted to work in a cardiac unit or floor since before I did my preceptorship during the summer but abandoned my hopes when I realized that the job market had tanked. I was applying for any and every position that I might have had a shot at...4 months of applying. My ego was bruised, my optimism gone and my self-esteem non-existent. But I am hopeful now that I am on the path that I was meant to be on all along. I am excited about this new chapter and trying my hardest not to let anything negative steer me away from where I'm headed. Hopefully I will start on Monday (pending squeezing in my pre-employment physical and drug screen). :)

I almost have an announcement...

forthcoming tomorrow. Here's a hint...

I'm an auntie again...

I have a new nephew dog!! His name is Archimedes and he is a little 6 week old Corgi who calls my bro papa. Check out the one ear up, one ear down thing....isn't he just adorable?!?

I can't wait to meet him soon!!

A Southern Funeral

It may not be the best neighborhood...or the sunniest day...or the happiest occasion....but I have seen where God lives. This week Jeff's Uncle Si passed away and today was the celebration of his life. I had never been to a funeral until I met Jeff and, really, no funeral can compare with those seated in the deep southern tradition that I have witnessed since becoming a Massey. No matter what your faith, you can't avoid being consumed with the spirit when in the presence of the loud and singing preacher interspersing bible quotes with life lessons, the praise choir with the one woman who sings out of turn and leads the congregation in a sing-along, the be-hatted women with their fans, hands high in the sky and "Amens", the hugs from people whose faces you know but names you've lost and the procession with nieces and nephews sing "I'll Fly Away" with tears in their eyes and amazing music in their hearts.

Today's eulogy was about forgiveness...and how you should forgive your neighbor not 7 times, but 70 X 7 times...basically that there is no limit to forgiveness and that bitterness is both contagious and consuming. I have learned a ton of lessons just from funerals in the past 10 years. It's shameful that it takes the passing of a loved one for these lessons to come to pass. But then again, would I learn the same lesson if it was delivered in any other manner aside from the empassioned preacher standing over the closed casket with the microphone in one hand, bible in the other?

Although I don't go to church regularly, don't regularly read the bible during my spare moments and don't listen to the Christian rock station, I do consider myself a woman of faith. Don't judge me. My faith takes it's own unique form that I share at times and keep to myself at others. My point with this post is not to discuss faith or organized religion...it is to convey the power of my experience. I wish everyone I know could be in a building that moves with powerful song, positive message and celebration of life. I am proud that Lily will be a part of this family and this culture that has created her daddy. As the Massey family closes out the funeral, singing "Because He Lives" or "Center of My Joy" I find myself moved almost to tears with a mixture of faith, pride and sorrow. So for today, I know where God lives...in a little Baptist church in Fairfield where today a family was united, a life was celebrated, and a lesson was learned.

60 Second Catch-Up

I know I haven't been blogging for the past week or so...my bad. I haven't really gotten a nice stockpile of pictures yet on my new computer. It takes a little while for me to get motivated these days :). This is what I've been up to in a nutshell...
Thanks to my bro, I have a new penchant for extreme couponing. I have gotten some great deals and saved quite a bit of money this week with this new past-time. But seriously, between clipping coupons and playing massive amounts of Bejeweled, my hand has some heavy duty cramping going on.

And why paint the inside of a cabinet for Lily's room?? Cause I can - that's why. We decided to forgo a dresser for the time being so I wanted to make this cabinet a little more of an addition to the room so it's now white with green insides. I will be searching for some pink baskets to go inside to hold clothes or other things to be determined as we get more organized. Cute, huh?

And then I have had some interviews...of which I have been on 3 in the past 3 weeks. All cardiac floors and all great jobs. No calls yet but I am so super hopeful that something will pan out this week. This job search has been a huge bruise on my ego and has contributed to my need for coupon-ing.

So...with that I thought I would share what fell out of my planner on my 2nd of 3 interviews...when I was a stressball sitting in the waiting area awaiting the arrival of my interviewer. I guess I had tucked it in there some weeks ago when Jeff and I went for Chinese food... "Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens."

Happy Moon Festival!

Today is the Chinese Moon Festival (or Mid-Autumn Festival) - read more about it here .

The Chinese celebrate this day by watching the moon and eating mooncakes. I have heard that they aren't very yummy so if you choose to celebrate this day...go gaze at the moon and eat yourself a MoonPie...while you're at it think about our sweet baby girl a world away who may be staring at the same moon.

And if that isn't enough...today is Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

We're talking MONTHS now...

not years!!! My fellow chart-making, referral-estimating, rumor-following, china adoption stalking prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) are now guessing that we will get our referral in 9-11 MONTHS. After almost 4 years since we began this journey, it feels so weird to think that we may see our baby girl's face in months and not years now. This truly brings home the fact that she has probably been born or, at the very least, has been conceived and is close to birth. Please, God, let our Lily be home before next Christmas. And to Lily's fam...if it is so....it'll be Christmas at our house in 2010. :)

Let me squeeze your arm

I am STILL looking for a job. While I am deep in my search, I am also looking for opportunities to make a little dough and keep up with some of my skills. Today I am doing my first per diem job working a health fair. I'll be the blood pressure nurse. I know it's not a big deal but this will be my first actual money-earning role as a nurse and I need to mark the occasion. It may just be enough bank to buy the black pants, blue shirt and shoes (uniform for the contract company) I had to buy to wear but it's something, right?!? So wish me happy arm squeezing today :).

Water water everywhere

It has now rained here for more days straight than I can count. And it's not little sprinkly rain and gloomy skies...it's a full on deluge. I think the people in the southeast will remember this time for a while to come. Atlanta has had to close schools and major interstates with some places getting more than 25 inches of rain in the past few days. It's a messy mess.

The rain doesn't make for a happy Nicole either. Or maybe it's a combination of the rain and some pretty major PMS. It's almost too rainy and sloshy to even go to Yogurt Mountain...that's pretty bad in my book.

Upsplurge

No...it's not another word for bulimia...it's Dad's name for the new water ride at Alabama Adventure. We braved the horrible forecast one more time and it worked...the park was open and we enjoyed a couple hours of water park fun. This ride, the Upsurge, has a serious steep dip in it and I chickened out the first time I started climbing the stairs. After some serious razzing and watching the men do it twice, I went on the double tube with Jeff. It was fun although I think my stomach was protruding from my nostrils for a few minutes.



As you can see, the men were especially proud of conquering the UpSurge. I think they were just trying to make me feel like more of a wimp.



And I did finally give in and go...and then I strategically placed the tube to cover my body for the celebratory photo.

As you can see, the ride has a pretty wicked part where it shoots you up in the air and then slides you back into the pool at the end. Dad looks a little like it he is about to flip over here. That would be brutal.

And, in the spirit of full disclosure, here are Jeff and I about to teeter off the top of the UpSurge...and you can tell that I sat in the back because my bright white legs just blinded you when you looked at the picture.

It was a fun day, concluded with a nice meal at The Bright Star with some a-maz-ing lemon icebox pie.

What a productive day

We suited up and headed out to try to go to Alabama Adventure yesterday since Dad is visiting this week and we got some free tickets from the Barons game we went to last month. First, I faced lots of resistance in the car when I wanted to take some pictures and memorialize the occasion....

I was successful in getting us all in a foggy picture...isn't everyone cute?!?

And the rain poured down as we made our way to the park...

We made it there and it was closed for the day so we went on to plan B....the outlet mall! And...we all got shoes....

So it was a productive day after all.

39 Months, 5 Days

I missed this month-a-versary last week...so here I am to mark the occasion.

39 months since a nice Chinese man or woman received and stamp the documents that will eventually bring our baby Lily home. 39 months of waiting...plus 8 months of paperwork...plus a lifetime of dreaming. :)

My thoughts on sports

We have entered the time of the year where it is football on Saturdays and Nascar on Sundays in this house. While Jeff looks forward to this time of year with heated anticipation, I honestly admit that in a way I absolutely dread it. Yes, I'm a party pooper. No, I don't let the countless hours of touchdowns, pit stops and half-time reports go un-complained-about. Maybe, I feel a little guilty about that.

Anyway...I have tons of female friends who absolutely adore sports (especially college football) and I have, numerous times in fact, told Jeff that I think he should have married them cause life just ain't so peachy with a sports-lover and sports-hater living in the same house. When I make this statement he responds with his little fake giggle in my direction and then turns his face back toward the TV to watch the next field goal attempt.

While I do despise these hours of sports watching, maybe I am just a little jealous that I don't have something so enthralling to bring me this type of joy. There is nothing like yelling at the quarterback on the TV as if he can really hear you tell him that he's stupid for dropping that ball or timing Kasey K@hne pit stop on your own watch to see how it compares to Mark M@rtin.

It's simple...it brings Jeff joy...therefore I must do a little less complaining, a little more grocery shopping and crafting and maybe a little more applying for weekend shift jobs ;).

The crafting continues....

In the pity party known as my life I find solace in making things for my baby girl. So... I am continuing my crafting in an attempt to give myself a little distraction and prepare her room to be fantastically comfy and cute.

Today I got these cheap wooden letters from Michael's and decided to do my scrapbook paper decoupage treatment on them...
I used some cute green and pink patterned paper, painted the sides and back white and did the decoupage...

They are drying on tin foil as I type. Now I have to decide...hang them with ribbon, put them on a plaque-type piece of wood or just hook them on the wall?

What d'ya think?

See what trying to be healthy gets you...

I had been doing so well on my health kick...last week I boosted my running mileage to 5 miles. This was a great accomplishment because it's at this distance that I really feel like I am making strides...it's a great workout and does SOOO much for the stress level. So I did my first 5 mile run in eons and noticed some pain in my right foot...it wasn't debilitating so 2 days later I did a 4 mile run with Jeff. Needless to say, it got worse and I went to the sports medicine doctor yesterday fearing a stress fracture. It's not a stress fracture but it's a nasty case of tendonitis (according to the dr at least) that I am supposed to ice, elevate, massage and rub this strange anti-inflammatory cream on 4 times a day. I'm also supposed to stay on constant doses of Advil or Aleve. Not a real big deal but my poor tootsie isn't feeling so hot after being poked and prodded and bent in all directions. By the way, this is caused not only by the running but also by the fact that I have absolutely FLAT FEET. Thanks for that one Dad.

So being healthy causes tendonitis...why bother then, right?!? Especially when Yogurt Mountain opened yesterday...
Yum yum. Two days open and I've been twice...if I don't stop then I will have to run a million trillion miles. :)

Have Time, Will Craft

Since I am currently without a job, I am trying to be as productive as possible so I have taken to crafting...which also helps get the baby's room ready since I have great hopes that we are within a year of parenthood. So this weekend, as we celebrated Labor Day, the beginning of college football season and the next to last Nascar race before the "Chase for the Championship", some neat projects were completed by the Masseys.

First, I took these mirrors that I got from Ikea for around $2...

Taped up the mirror parts, primed and painted the edges white and...

Used spray adhesive to affix some super pretty scrapbook paper to the fronts, cut off the extra with a craft exacto knife and decoupaged over it to seal it. Here is the final product...

There is this old piece of furniture that has been hanging out in the baby's room that I have been planning to do something with and we finally took a trip to Lowe's and made it happen...

So I sanded, put on 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of enamel paint and put on the pretty little pulls that I got from Ikea.

And here it is... I am planning to make a fabric covered pad to turn the top into a pseudo-changing table if our Lily is young enough to use it for a while.

So now I am trying to brainstorm some more crafty ideas to keep myself busy so I don't lose my mind with my current "wanting to work but jobless" state.

Happy Birthday Brandee!!

Today is Brandee's birthday!!! We met at her favorite pizza joint, Mellow Mushroom to share some b-day joy. Here she is with Leslie and Ricky, her BFFs.

And her Skittle-covered birthday cake...

And no birthday is complete without a self-pic...

Happy Birthday Brandee!! I love you sis!!

I love mail!

This week I had a couple of really special things come to me in the mail. You know how exciting it is to check the box and see something hand-written mixed amongst the bills and pre-approved credit card offers?!? Or to drive up in to the driveway and see a package sitting in front of the door just knowing that it came from a loved one?!?

This week I received a special envelope full of drawings from a very sweet little 4 year old friend of mine. I gave her a little crocheted hat for her dolly and that earned me ALL of this. She really brought a huge smile to my face with these.

And my brother actually sent me this box (mailed by Lori - thanks girl!)...a TON of honey crisp apples. How did he know that they are my favorite and that I stalk The Fresh Market around this time of the year to see if the crop has come in. I have eaten a few of them so far and they are juicy and delicious...how absolutely thoughtful!! I really, really appreciate it!

And almost as much as I appreciate the apples, I also appreciate the big bubbly wrapper which helped me with an especially stressful week....the popping could be heard 'round the neighborhood I'm sure...

Although I am often mad at our mailman for skipping our box when he may have to put his little car in reverse to avoid a car parked on the street or if the trash man puts our empty can too close to the box after dumping it on trash day...I did love him this week. :)

Huh? Gimme a break already.

In today's news, the Duggars are having their 19th child - due in the Spring...for more info click here .

I'm not even gonna get in to my spiel about how I feel about this. Suffice it to say that I just think it's reee-dunc-u-lous. And yes - the va-jay-jay word is now on my blog. Sorry Brandee - they didn't have a version of this picture with the word YA-HOO.

My Geared Up Runner's Arm

Jeff and I have been trying to get ourselves back in to running. In fact, I have had a couple days where I have been able to get in a slow 4 miles. Last week I did a total of 13 miles and I'm hoping to at least meet that this week. We have the Race for the Cure coming up again on October 10th and Jeff has big plans for us to do the Vulcan Run (10K-6.2 miles) in November so we better stick to the training.

Every time I run, I put on the bike pants, dry fit top and then I spend about 5 minutes gearing up my arm. As you can see above, I gain about 5 lbs in electronics before I take my first step. Oddly enough, all of these electronics I've gotten from my parents who bless me with gadgets which I LOVE. First is my GoWearFit which measures the intensity of my workout, the calories that I burn and even records my sleep time and efficiency. Then, of course, I have my Ipod...who can really exercise without the Black Eyed Peas and Linkin Park?!? Finally I have the piece of equipment that I have stolen from Dad...the Garmin Forerunner which measures my time and distance according to GPS tracking and can give me some neat statistical analysis of my run and help me track my mileage per week, month, speed, etc.

I sometimes feel like a dork taking to the trail all geared up...especially when I see the man who comes wearing just shorts, even leaving the shoes at home. But we all have our own style, right? And mine is fully geared.

Frozen Yogurt Anticipation

Everyone who knows me knows that I have a big-time sweet tooth and my favorite way to satisfy that is with frozen yogurt. I have been so envious of Mom and Dad who have a cool place called "The Skinny Dip" in Virginia which allows you to serve your own yogurt from 8 flavors, pile on the toppings of your choice and then your creation is weighed and you are charged per ounce.

So how excited am I that Birmingham is about to have it's own version of this fantastic idea except with 16 flavors instead of 8?!? I have been stalking Yogurt Mountain since Leslie told me about it and am drooling with anticipation of their opening. In fact, I passed by there today and took a picture of the progress. I have also posted on the store's Facebook page asking when their opening will be. I am a yogurt freak!

Don't laugh at me...join me :)

We're now a fixture

My nursing school has a hall where all the RN class composite pictures are framed and gloriously displayed for future generations of nursing students to gawk at. Seriously, no one probably looks at them but it is cool nonetheless. So in my "taking pictures of pictures" habit I had to take a shot of myself, me and Brooke and the whole thing-a-ma-jig hanging on the wall. I also have a cool 11 x 14 copy which I plan to frame and hang on my praise me wall.

ME!!

Me and my buddy Brooke - proud Class Reps

If you look close you can see me taking the picture in the reflection.

Note: not all of my class is represented in this picture which is a bit of a bummer...

We're approved and approved and approved

We received our 3rd (and hopefully last) immigration approval in the mail today. This is what we had to re-do all of our paperwork for a few months ago. This approval will last us until January 9, 2011 at which time our adoption has to be completed (we have to be back home with our Lily, not just referral received) or we have to do it all over again. We will still have to do our biometric fingerprints again this November since those are only good for 15 months but I am so very cautiously optimistic that this will be the last action we have to take before we see Lily's face.

Rumor Queen (at www.chinaadopttalk.com) has come out with this month's projections and, while we really aren't moving up, we are still on the charts. This chart can be a little hard to understand if you're not familiar with Rumor Queen lingo but basically the top is representative of referral batch sizes..."Spring 2008" is the smallest size batch and "2006 Good Case" is the largest - not seen since 2006. Most batches lately have fallen somewhere between "Spring 2008" and "Winter 2008 Horrid". The rows indicate the month that referrals will be received and the dates in the chart are LID dates. I have put a line where we fall....we're not in projections until the Summer '07 scenario - which won't happen - but we're getting there. This only goes out to January, 2010 so we still have some room to play.

Sorry if this is too much technical info but I have to put it out there. We'll see how it changes next month....

Always on my mind

I haven't blogged too much about the adoption lately but it is absolutely not that our baby girl isn't constantly on my mind. I have done pretty well at distracting myself from the unending wait lately but now that I have extra time, I am re-focusing on the excitement of making Jeff and I a family of three.

We have had a lot of conversations lately about parenthood and things we want to do once we are home from China. We have the short-term plans which include things like taking a family trip to the beach, handling the early attachment issues (night terrors, healthy bonding, etc), walks in the park, introducing Lily to our neighbors adorable 6 month old baby boy and we have long-term plans like where Lily will go to school, who will drive her to her extra-curricular activities, how excited we will be to be the tooth fairy, dyeing easter eggs, hosting birthday parties.

No child in the world could be more wanted than our little one. There is just no way. And, God-willing and China-providing, it looks like we just may be about a year away from making our dreams of a family reality. That means maybe one more Halloween without our little ladybug, one more Christmas, one more Easter, one more Mother's Day and Father's Day...maybe, just maybe, we will greet next Fall with at least a picture of our sweet future.

And that means....Lily Faith could have been born by now. Our little girl could be living, breathing and waiting for us right now. If so, please pray with me that she is protected, safe, healthy and cared for by some very special foster parents or nannies. Please pray that her nights without us to soothe her tears are few and that she comes to us with the ability to attach and grow. Finally, please pray for the mother who has had to make the choice to not raise her...probably the most difficult thing that she has ever had to do. Pray that she finds peace, and knows deeply in her heart that the child of her womb was destined to be our Lily Faith and we will love her and give her the best life that we possibly can. She deserves nothing less.

Boards are done and I'm moving on...

I wasn't the only one who was ecstatic when I passed my boards last week. My sweet hubby was just as stoked. So much so that he decided to get me a little treat...

a very special card personalized card with my two favorite letters - R and N....

and a dozen beautiful roses that I have been staring at every day.

Now that boards are done, I have some time on my hands as I search for a job. The job market is pretty horrendous these days and I have to say that I am having a lot of anxiety about it. Hopefully I will have some good fortune soon in that arena but in the meantime it's time to get rid of the school crap and restore life to it's normal state. This includes the shelf that held my nursing school books, notebooks, notecards and various other goods. It was a mess...

The school books have found their new home in the basement in my medical library that I will use as reference during my career (as soon as I have one) and the pretty purple boxes with all of our photos have come back. There's even an empty shelf waiting to be filled with something special...I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Today started a new semester at my old school and it feels so weird not to be reporting to class, begging for a clinical schedule and stressing over the next ERI exam. I'm not even worried about how much information I've retained since NCLEX is over. I am just excited to find out where my career takes me so that I can be the best that I can be wherever I end up.

S@ssy Water

Take 2 liters of water, 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced, 1 lemon, thinly sliced, 1 TB ginger, freshly grated and 12 mint leaves, chill overnight and what do you get??

It's called S@ssy Water from the Fl@t Belly Diet. A mixture of natural diuretics and GI soothers that, when brought together, tastes oddly like my mouth does after I have emptied the lawn mower bag and had the grass fly up into my gaping mouthed face.

Today is the second day I have indulged in this delicacy in an attempt to cleanse my body of yucky foods that I have consumed for the past almost 2 years while in nursing school. Of course, you are supposed to accompany the water with a very low carb, high protein, low gassy foods diet. I have been decent with my diet but now as good as I could be. That's the next step. I will try this water trick for at least 4 days (cause I have the stuff in my fridge just waiting to be chopped and dropped in to some H2O). Will keep you posted on how fat, uh I mean flat, the belly gets.

I now pronounce myself Nicole, RN

I passed my board exam!! I am super psyched to now be an official registered nurse. I still don't have a job but I have applied for like a million today since I got official word about my new CREDENTIALS. I will be signing my name with initials for a while...and Jeff says I should put Nicole, B.A., R.N.
For today, the R.N. is fine...I worked incredibly hard for this new status so I am going to flaunt it for the time being. Just call me Nurse Massey...but don't expect me to wear the hat. :)