Remembering Kirk

This week is especially tough for my family. One year ago this week, my aunt and uncle, my cousins, and many of my family members were absorbing the shock of my cousin, Kirk Jordan's murder. This week also marks the anniversary of the funeral arrangements and totally changed lives.

With 12 months behind, there is still no arrest.

Please continue to pray.

(To read the original blog entry of Kirk's passing, click here.)

Which Tile Do YOU Choose?

Tile for the bathroom? Check . . . . well, almost.

A quick, lunchtime trip to local tile stores proved fruitful. We picked out the floor tile from Daltile: 1.25 x 1.25 inch hexagon in arctic white. And we are debating the wall tiles; for sure, we want subway tile. The color choices are either architectural gray or urban putty.

Which do you prefer? Give us your vote, please. (The top is architectural gray and the bottom is urban putty.)

Now, on to sinks, vanities, and toilets!

A Tale of a Leaky Valve

The story begins with a drip from the tub faucet in our hall bath.

And the drip wouldn't stop. In fact, sometimes the drip was more like a small stream. So, we called the plumber, naturally.

Because our hall bath is original to our 1940s house, the plumbing and fixtures associated with our so deep cast iron tub are . . . let's just say, in the twilight years of life. The plumber from Rescue Rooters revealed the problem was in a leaky valve, circa 1940-something. But to correct the problem, the plumber must cut through the dry wall in our pantry to access the pipes.

The food removal began onto my kitchen counters. The hole was cut. The valve replaced. And the call made for the inspector to visit.

Five days and one trip to Nashville later, the inspector arrives to post a red tag; we failed inspection. Long story short . . . Fort Worth requires tub/shower faucets to have a balanced pressure scald guard attached to the valve/pipes. This means two things: 1) The plumber must cut through the tile to access the pipes to replace them and 2) the plumber must replace our two-knob control to a one control, meaning more tile destruction around the bath. Did I mention the bathroom is old, and we do not have any matching tile to patch the holes?

The moral of the story? A leaky valve has now turned into a full on bathroom remodel. We planned to remodel this bathroom anyway once we finalized an adoption; but looks like we are tackling that project earlier than expected. Our contractor comes one week from tomorrow to begin.

If you can't find me, I'll be at Home Depot.

Our pantry was in the kitchen and the hall for nearly a week! We decided to patch it up best we could until the contractor fully dives in.

Waiting for a Reason

This week we welcomed a new arrival to the house--a rocking chair and ottoman for the nursery. We ordered it at the end of November, and it just arrived on Tuesday. Apparently, the holiday season isn't a high-demand time for the rocking chair industry. Thus, the manufacturer worked at half staff, making it a longer process. But that's neither here nor there.

I'll post pics of our addition once I get everything sorted.

The arrival of the rocking chair was exciting and a reminder that we are still waiting for adoption news. But we were so encouraged recently when we read a devotion together on the topic of waiting. Ben Patterson, the author, wrote: "Waiting isn't just the thing we do until we get what we're hoping for; it's a critical part of the process of becoming what we hope for." Such good news! While we are waiting to be parents, God is using the "in between time" to prepare us as people and parents. It's so freeing to think of this process as preparation with a purpose than just twirling my thumbs waiting for the call. Oh, to keep the perspective of trusting an all-wise, ever-loving God!

Happy Nashville New Year

While I’m typing this, we are several thousand feet in the air on our way home from Nashville. To ring in the New Year, we crashed Music City to visit family and friends—and the holiday did not disappoint. Our niece and nephew, as kiddos tend to do, are growing and growing, looking more like “young adults” all the time. (What does that make us? Just adults?) The activities included eating, watching Gulliver’s Travels, eating, visiting the newly opened Opryland Hotel (it was closed for nearly 8 months after the disastrous flood), shopping the Dillards’ sale, eating with friends, getting coffee with friends, celebrating Brad’s birthday by eating, and hugging my sweet Lytles who are in the USA for their first stint in Indonesia. Whew—it was fun.

I also dragged Bryan through Bellevue showing him where I was residing when the flood took over back in May. It was wild to be back, remembering the last time I saw those places they were under several feet of yucky, muddy water.

The vacation verdict? Spending the New Year with old friends and “old” family (ha, ha) is the way to go! Now, back to work tomorrow . . . .

Youree Christmas Adventures!

There's just something about Christmas . . . . that's so wonderful, comforting, peaceful, and fun. All those things and more rolled into one day. Sigh . . . .

And the 2010 Youree Christmas spectacular didn't disappoint in those regards. It was wonderful to visit with family in Sherman on Christmas Eve. A big breakfast started the day off right where we munched and gabbed with Papa and Granny Youree, Bryan's parents, Aunt Becky, Aunt Paula, Andrea, Alyssa, Tyler, and too-cute Colton. Later in the day, we were able to spend some much-needed time with the Wilson crew. We were so proud of ourselves, too, that we made to our church's Christmas Eve service, which was so worshipful and great.

Comforting and peaceful hit the scene on Christmas day--we slept in and enjoyed a quiet day. (Given our adoption aspirations, this may be our last Christmas to enjoy such--ha!) Santa was again too kind to us. Bryan fixed a stellar breakfast: English muffins, eggs, and bacon, yuuum.

In the fun category, comes the Narnia movie we watched on Christmas Eve Eve and the other Christmas DVDs we crammed into our weekend. But perhaps, the funniest moments were gazing at the Christmas tree with one strand of lights out, and our Christmas dinner debacle.

So . . . we forgot to buy heavy cream for the fantastic, out-of-this-world chowder Bryan makes. I called every grocer and convenient store nearby. Each was either closed or did not carry heavy cream. Then we tried to call pizza places--nothing. Finally, we found good grub at the Movie Tavern bar, where we landed one pizza and a sandwich to go. THANK GOD for Movie Tavern.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas too!

Adoption Update: Three Strikes You're Out?

Three seems to be the number of the month. We've been signed up with our adoption agency for three months. And in that short time span, we've had three "almost" matches--two which fell apart early in the matching process and one that was more significant. Actually, we just found out today the third potential birthmother decided to parent. So, it's looking like Baby Youree Watch 2010 will turn into Baby Youree Watch 2011.

Stay tuned . . . we can't wait to share good news when it comes!