I needed this today

I saw this link on my journal blog, and I sure needed it today. I hope you enjoy it, if it doesn't work right you can go here to view it and many other amazing things.

And We're Back!

Hello All! (As I'm sure there are so many people out there reading this blog :P). Maybe someday I will catch up with different events that have happened for the majority of this year, but for now a short post that we are alive and well and are back on the net. As the purpose for creating this blog was to help our adoption efforts, when we decided recently not to pursue adoption further the blog needed a focus overhaul, and after months of procrastination here it is! So yes, we have decided not to continue our efforts to expand our family through adoption, but we still believe that it is and can be a great and amazing experience and we are still adoption supporters. Anyhew, other than all of the craziness with that, things are going relatively well around here. We just finished (kinda) pulling the house apart and putting things into storage or donating to yard sales what we felt we needed to, and it was a neat experience. I have always had an attachment to "stuff", but as we are starting a new chapter in our lives it was nice to go through it all and really make a step to help our home feel more clean and put together. So alas, the great inspiration for the original title of this blog (Mike and Risa's Jolly Blog of Doom), aka all of our Invader Zim memorabilia, went into the storage bins to have its fate decided later, and pretty much all of the pictures I had posted on this blog about the look and layout of our home have drastically changed, but all for the better at least. It's an interesting feeling to suddenly wake up and realize that you're "all grown up" (to an extent, at least feeling your age finally), but Michael and I feel ready and excited for whatever the future may bring.  We love all of you family and friends and truly appreciate all of your love and support, especially through the rough times this year and beyond. We are going to keep trying for children, wish us luck - we'll need plenty of it :)
Risa

Our crazy family...

So, when Michael got home from work yesterday, there had been such beautiful weather that we had to take the dog for a walk. After a couple hours of getting dinner ready, we were finally able to get out the door. Little did we know the two cats were out also, which is fine as they love going outside, but it made the evening interesting. Normally cat owners (at least in our experience) don't have to worry about their kitties leaving the general area of their home, but as our family has been anything but normal why should that be an exception? As we began our walk around the neighborhood, both of the cats ran up beside us and followed us the entire time, Teach harassing Inca and playfully rolling in the gutters as we walked along the sidewalk, sometimes even running and tackling Bosa as he tried to get ahead of us, Inca being upset that Teach was on the same planet, all sorts of fun. Risa was a little stubborn about leaving the immediate neighborhood with cats in tow (she worries they won't cross streets as fast), so we just walked a small circle around the homes where we live, but we have the feeling they would follow us anywhere (Inca has been known to follow us to church a few blocks away). We wonder what the neighbors thought, but as our cats are known for following us to other people's houses and sitting outside yowling until we come out, maybe it's not unusual behavior. It was a peculiar experience and brought new meaning to "taking the family for a walk."(Funny though how they will follow us freely, but if we try to put a harness or leash on them they turn into lumps of limp kitty). There was another time when Teach followed us to the gas station next door but sat on the fence at the edge of the lot and cried like a wounded animal until we got our redbox movie and came back. Fun times, fun times. Ah well, it could be worse, we could have this :)


(Go to this website for more fun kitty pics!)

Another inspiring message

Yeah yeah, I know we've (I've) been posting a lot of these lately, but this one is a goodie too. We want to let each of you know who read this blog that you are all wonderful, beautiful children of a Heavenly Father who loves you so much, much more than you can comprehend. And we love you too :) Hope this post brightens your day!

Courage is Amazing

This amazing family's story has changed our lives. Watch this video and check out Stephanie Nielson's blog to find a special look at the love that can be found in this life to truly accomplish all things. (Our blog cuts part of it off so I can't embed it, but please follow the link below to view it, you won't regret it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

The dream vacation, New York City Baby!

So, as a special trip Michael's parents bequeathed skymiles and such to help us get tickets to visit one of Michael's best friends who is studying to be a surgeon at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Michael's friend Rory and his wife Raphelle were SO amazing to let us stay with them for a few blissful days, it totally rocked the casbah as far as vacations go. We just can't say enough good things about NYC and our dear friends for being so wonderful (not to mention the parents that helped it all happen). Here are some of the details and a few pictures of our trip!
This is Mike at the airport right after we landed. It was so exciting to feel the moist air and to realize that we had finally made it after a few bumpy flights. (The flights home were much worse, however, thanks to a storm blowing in and sitting in the back of the plane, but we had an amazing pilot and landed safely.)
Our first night, Rory took us out on the town. Here's him and Michael in the subway terminal, which really wasn't as bad as we expected (considering most everything we knew -or at least what Risa knew- about NYC is from hours and hours of Futurama episodes and general fiction-y shows, etc). We actually grew quite fond of public transportation while we were there.

While on the town we saw Times Square, the New York Hard Rock Cafe, the Broadway theater, the Late Night with David Letterman Show theater, the Hershey's store, and more, even a giant billboard roll of toilet paper advertising for Cottonelle. One of the best places was Grand Central Terminal, where Michael is pictured below, it was HUGE!One of the best places of the entire trip was here, where there is a place called "whispering corner" just outside the Oyster Bar restaurant. You can see a better picture at our online album, but just outside the restaurant the acoustics are so amazing that if you stand in opposing corners you can whisper at the wall and the person on the other side can hear you, even if it's rush hour, and it worked! It was phenomenal.

We went to a Tim Burton exhibit at the MOMA museum our second day there, it was pretty neat but Risa definitely prefers his more lighthearted works and stop motion animation versus some of the more abstract stuff. It was still really fun, we got to see some of the puppets from the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Corpse Bride, as well as costumes and props from Edward Scizzorhands, Beetlejuice, Planet of the Apes, and some of the Batman movies.

Here's Risa in her gnarly NYC outfit, we got the hat from a street vendor and she felt pretty snazzy as everyone was wearing scarves there, so we took a picture. It's at Rory and Raphelle's house. We spent a lot of our time just wandering around the city looking at all of the amazing architecture, visit our 2nd online photo album to see some of the amazing sites we saw including Rockefeller Center, cathedrals, restaurants, and even a giant Hello Kitty statue in the courtyard of a building. We also got to eat at Lombardi's Pizza, the first pizzeria in the USA and the birthplace of New York style pizza, it was so good we were dreaming of Ninja Turtles and cheesy heaven. We visited markets and street vendors, saw street performers (even some who performed on a moving subway train), and brought home some cute little pictures of alien creatures.

Here's Michael at The Cloisters museum we went to on our 3rd day there. It's a medieval museum where a lot of medieval architecture, relics, tapestries, etc, were saved, brought over to the US, and restored into this beautiful museum. We also saw the many beautiful bridges around here (including the amazing Brooklyn Bridge, one of our favorites), and some amazing parks, forts, and random beautiful archways.

We tried visiting Coney Island to see the side shows, but alas fate would have it that there was a scheduling mishap (grr Coney Island website) and everything was closed when we got out there, but at least Rory and Michael were able to eat a hot dog at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, a really famous hot dog shop out there apparently :)
Definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip was our time spent in Central Park, one of the most beautiful places we have been. We loved wandering around the grounds. We saw an awesome Alice and Wonderland statue, tried some Knish (a Jewish food that is kinda like battered and fried mashed potatoes), and just took in the awesome beauty of everything, even the benches were awesome.

This is us in the traditional picture required by all who visit Rory and Raphelle on City Island (a suburb of NYC), they ROCK and we were just all too happy to participate. In the end, our feet hurt more than ever before, and it was heartbreaking to leave so soon, but we are so so so so so so so so so so so so grateful for our amazing friends and family for giving us a much needed pick-me-up and opening our minds to new places and people. The big city experience is amazing, and we can't wait to do it again. (Don't forget to look at our 2nd online album for more photos!)

Wowza!

Wow, so, Risa's best friend Miranda just introduced us to this website: http://myfoodlooksfunny.com/ which is totally amazing! Anything that has a Futurama reference (still convinced it is the greatest show ever made, though we haven't seen the new season yet) is awesome in our book, you should totally go give it a look!

“I like Brain Slugs so much I made Brain Slug cupcakes of my own free will.”

... "Don't worry, there's a bunny"

So, if you haven't heard comedian Jim Gaffigan's monologue on holidays, you need to go here and view it now or suffer the mighty wrath of doom! :) Just kidding, there is no wrath, you may simply not enjoy the full force of the title of this post. Anyhew, we spent a fabulous but short Easter weekend with Michael's parents at their condo in St. George. It's crunch time on the project Michael is doing at work, so we left late Friday night and came home Sunday evening, but it was really fun nonetheless. It was a nice break to relax in the sun (who knew there could be sun in Utah in April?) while listening to General Conference (an event that happens twice a year where leaders from our church speak on various topics, very awesome stuff) and spending time with Michael's brother Scotty, his wife Chelsie, and their ADORABLE baby girl Jezzy who live in St. George so we don't see them a lot. Between the Saturday sessions, we all went shooting and celebrated Easter in a way by shooting eggs with 22 rifles, man was it fun watching them explode.
Here's Michael holding Jezzy at the shooting range. She was a little sleepy and was working hard to gum her way through a piece of dried pear as she only has a few teeth. (I have to brag that I have the best hubby in the world, who couldn't look at this picture without making an "awww" sound?)
Here we are at the place where we go shooting. It was lots of fun. (We only get the guns out to shoot creepy DI finds, broken electronics, eggs, and those ceramic disk things you buy at the ammo store, otherwise they are tucked away neatly at Michael's parents' house unloaded, etc.) For Easter dinner we had brunch at the Casa Blanca Hotel buffet, how could Easter be complete without crab legs and heat lamps? It was awesome. We are so grateful for loving family! We also went to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Saturday night with Scott and Chelsie, and it was SO AWESOME, we totally need to own it as soon as it comes out. This upcoming weekend we're off to visit Michael's friends Rory and Raphelle in New York City, woot woot! Full report to follow once we return home. True to our last post, here's a short and rather strange video of dancing bunnies! -It's extra neat because Risa used to make sugar eggs for Easter with her Grandma when she was little, enjoy!

The Eternal Refiner and Purifier of Silver

One of our dear friends posted this on their blog for their sweet daughter who was born prematurely and passed away. They are an amazing family. We really loved this story and the message it has as we all experience trials in this life, may we all come away from our trials a little shinier and more refined. (We promise our next post will have happy bunnies in it or something :) - Mike and Risa).

The Eternal Refiner and Purifier of Silver-- Malachi 3:3


Malachi 3:3 says: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."

This verse puzzled some students in an Old Testament Sunday School class and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the students, a woman, offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next class.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire to heat it up. He explained that when refining silver, one needs to hold the silver in the middle of the flame where the fire is hottest and thereby burn away all of the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot. Then she thought again about the verse that says: "…He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver..."

She asked the silversmith if he truly had to sit there in front of the fire closely monitoring the progress and make adjustments the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man assured her he did, and that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy – when I see my image in it."

When you are personally feeling the heat of the fire, as we all sometimes do, remember that God has His eyes on you and will keep closely watching you until He sees His image in your countenance.

Adversity

My friend Marie just posted this on her blog, and I found it so profound I wanted to post it here as well.
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/03/08/ted.aimee.mullins.ted
It's a video of Aimee Mullens, an amazing woman, speaking on adversity and how it can be perceived as an opportunity. Marie has a good synopsis of it on her blog post about it if you don't have time to watch the entire thing.

Merry X-mas and a Belated New Year

So... yeah, happy Mid February everybody! Sorry about the delay, the end of 2009 was pretty crazy with family, a new job for Risa, and yeah... Anyhew, Christmas was pretty neat as Risa's mom was in town for a couple of days and we got to spend some time with her Christmas Day, Michael's family Christmas Eve, and Risa's extended family from Colorado the day after Christmas. We got to go ice-skating up in Midway a-la Risa's amazing grandparents, and we helped our niece Kristianna (3) go ice skating for the first time. We kinda forgot to take many pictures at Christmas, so we'll have to make do with lots of pictures from New Years, or at least New Years Day as we had a rockin' sledding party up at Michael's parents' house. It was a blast! Risa's sister and her family came up, Michael's brother and sister and their families were there, his best friend Darin was there (they've been friends since they were 11 or so), and some of Michael's extended family came too. Here's a bit about what we did:
We went sledding down the enormous hill in Michael's parents' back yard, this is us with our niece Sarah (1.5) after we landed at the bottom, she was a little frozded but she Loved the snow. When she first got out there she would literally fall flat on her face and just eat the snow while lying there face down, it was hilarious. Risa got to build a snowman with our niece Kristianna (the most adorable creature in the whole world), in honor of building them with her aunt Mary and aunt Carolyn when she was young. She doesn't really remember building them back then, but she remembers looking at the pictures of them like this and thinking that was cool. Kristianna just plopped on the snow in front of the snowman for the picture, she just wanted some more Sprite from her pappa and was a bit worn out from sledding. We got to take out the four-wheelers and zoom around in the snow, well, at least Michael and lots of the other adults did, Risa was a bit chicken. He even took our first born, Bosa, for a short ride. Bosa likes to bark at and chase the four-wheelers, he sure loves grandma's house! We also took him down with us on the sled a couple of times, he seemed to enjoy it but one can never tell...We had a crazy awesome time with the annual Christmas tree burn. Michael's dad and brother gathered up tons of Christmas trees from the side of the road (people had put them out to be collected and tossed, we had better ideas for them), so we had quite the spectacle as they set them alight one by one. It was nice and warm on that snowy day for a few minutes :) Here's another picture of our niece Kristianna and her mom, Risa's sister Tabitha. They were SO cute walking up the hill and coming down, Kristianna would get a huge grin on her face and say "let's go again!" Playing with nieces and nephews was one of the biggest highlights of the whole day, here are some more pictures Risa likes:Michael and our nephew Rand (5) making faces for the camera.Our niece Jezzy (1) and Eli (10 months at the time), actually sharing magnets at the fridge, they were so cute! The most awesome Uncle Michael taking Rand, Riley (3), and Sarah up the hill to go down on the sled. The best husband in the world taking Kristianna up for one last (maybe turned into a few last) trips down the hill before it was time to go in. (Can you tell Risa dropped the camera in the snow? At least the effect is cool, almost makes it more awesome). You can see more at our second online photo album :)