The fifth day of Lent

It's the fifth day of Lent.  And also the Sunday preceding my birthday.

5th day of Lent + the Sunday preceding my birthday = SPECIAL DAY!

Doug and I went "home" this weekend.  It is always exciting for us to cross the state line back into Missouri.  We call it "God's country."  It's funny how we actually relax a little more after crossing that invisible line.  There really is no place like home.

We had a GREAT trip back to my parent's house and a GREAT time while we were there.  I got to see both of my siblings and their spouses and (almost) all of my incredible nieces and nephews and I watched two of my nephews play basketball and played cards with my parents and tasted my sister's incredible cupcakes and played with my one year old niece and played a game with my 8 year old nephew and enjoyed some wine and laughed and hugged my parents and took a nap!!!  It was FABULOUS!

There is nothing like family.

Tonight I'm anxious about our little branch of the family tree.  The crazy thing about foster parenting is that I find myself getting attached to these children I've never seen or met.  I assume it's similar to expecting a biological child in that sense.  We know their gender: all boys.  We learned their names: I can't tell you on here but they are FABULOUS.  We did not ask their race:  It doesn't matter to us and we want to be surprised.  So it's kind of like we're pregnant.

Foster pregnant.

Bryan, in black. Wyatt, ready to rebound in white. Alli, perfect teeth.

We are here.

Check out this article.  It's quality.

"Childless, not by choice." 

It is on my Bucket List to write a book about the "advice" and actions experienced by Doug and I on behalf of well-meaning (???) friends and loved ones over the course of what we lovingly refer to as "The Mezger Family Expansion Project".  I plan to call it, "The Fertile Girl's Guide to Her Infertile Friend."  Look for it.

In other news, I've definitely hit the "I hate just about everything and will likely tell you exactly why if given ample opportunity" phase of the grief process.  According to this website, such feelings may be indicative of the second stage of the grieving process known as "anger."  Whatever.  I am the farthest thing from "angry" and I RUE any website that tries to tell me differently.