What We Did This Weekend: Another Temple Trip

This weekend was our monthly temple trip. But before we get to the details of our road trip, we had date night on Friday.

Some good friends invited us over for some hot chocolate, doughnuts, and some quality conversation time Friday night. Before heading over to their house, we stopped at Panera Bread for dinner. Brookie tried the new white cheddar macaroni and cheese, and highly recommends it. In fact, she liked it so much that she wanted to eat their again while we were in St. Louis.

There were a few things of note that happened on Saturday. The temple is always noteworthy, but seldom is it fodder for our blog. Because I wasn't especially thrilled to eat at Panera Bread two consecutive days (even if it's not really called Panera in St. Louis), I needed to suggest a strong alternative. Café Rio sounded good. Too bad the closest one to us is 945 miles away (actually, since we were in St. Louis, it was more like 1,177 miles– not exactly "on the way home" from the temple). But we remembered a place that was similar to Café Rio called Qdoba, where we'd stopped once before.

Just like last week at Zepi's, we were all by ourselves at Qdoba. After looking at the menu and deciding on our lunches, we were excited. However, the lovely Lunch Lady in training behind the counter that took our orders and dished up our food saw to it that our excitement was fleeting. I capitalize Lunch Lady because, in my mind at least, it's a proper noun. We're talking about The Lunch Lady. Not just anyone that works on the food staff at a school. You know the one. And I say she was in training because she was probably only 19 or 20. So, anyway, she asks Brooke what she wanted and started to dish it up. She didn't smile at all, just grabbed the spoon in the type of food she wanted and "slop," threw it into her bowl. Grabbed the next spoon. Slop. "You want black or pinto beans?" Slop. "What kind of meat do you want with that?" Slop. Getting my order of nachos was every bit as painful to watch.

At Café Rio your tastebuds get excited the second you're there– even before you park sometimes. Then, as it gets closer and closer to your turn to order, you really start to salivate. I've never become less enthused about my meal as they've dished it up. Quite the opposite, really. The anticipation only builds as they construct my shredded chicken salad, holding the cilantro. But at Qdoba on Saturday, Lunch Lady made sure that any anticipation we had for our lunch was replaced with feelings of guilt for having been such an inconvenience to her. Our meals were really good. But food is so much less appetizing when it's slopped.

We made our monthly stop at the outlet stores in Warrenton, MO too. We went to GAP again, but this time, it wasn't for us. This time we were trying to buy clothes for the Boy. It was harder than I thought it would be. I was having trouble deciding on anything. After all, what we bought could end up influencing his style for years to come. The last thing we want is for him to end up on some show like "What Not to Wear." We did buy a few things, now we just hope that he'll look good in them.

And that's what we did this weekend!
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What We Did This Weekend: Christmas Party, Babysitting & Zepi's

We went to our ward's Christmas party Friday night, so we shifted our weekly date night to Saturday. We had a good time with our friends from church at the party. The best part is just sitting and chatting with them. There were also a few organized group activities, like some Christmas trivia and a gingerbread (graham cracker) house contest. They also had a cookie contest, but the cookies were gone so fast that we didn't get to try them all. Brookie had signed up to cook a ham and bring that for dinner. I found a great glaze recipe with clementines, cracked pepper, jalapeño, and brown sugar that turned out really well. But I think she and I were the only ones that knew that really appreciated it.

Saturday we had been planning on going to Babies 'R' Us and Target to sign up for their baby registries. But lately we've been looking for ways to be of service, and a pair of opportunities superseded the need to roam a few stores armed with a scanner, looking for things our child may or may not need.

Saturday morning I left the house at 7:30am to help a new member of our ward move some things out of a storage unit into his new home in Lee's Summit. There was never a pause in the conversation the entire time we were in the car driving to and back from the storage center in Shawnee, KS. Call me weird, but I kind of enjoy helping people move. First of all, people can always use a hand when they're moving. Second, you burn a ton of calories by spending a few hours lifting and moving boxes and furniture, which means I can pretty much eat whatever I want for the rest of the day.*

*This second reason did not dawn on me until I was driving home one afternoon after a move. I was so proud of myself for having turned down the offer to have a doughnut during the move and pizza afterwards. Then I realized that I had burned so many calories by working for the past few hours that having those treats would have been no problem at all. Too bad there hasn't been another moving/pizza opportunity since then...

Saturday evening we had the chance to watch two adorable little girls that belong to Brookie's friend from work, the former and much-missed vice principal. Both are under the age of three and both were extremely fun to play with. At dinner the younger sister put her big sister to shame by eating three-times the amount of food than she did. But we successfully helped the big sister finish her dinner, thanks to Brookie's quick feeding action and my distracting (and often comical) antics. By the end of the evening, as we were winding them down for bed (which, believe me, takes some effort, because if there's one thing I do really, really well, it's wind kids up), both of the girls had found a comfortable spot on my lap while we watched The Polar Express.

When their parents got home, we went out for our dinner date. They live in Overland Park, and there was a pizza place I've heard about on the radio that we (mostly I) wanted to try called Zepi's Pizza. What I didn't tell Brookie was that I had rented out the entire restaurant that night so we could have it all to ourselves. Okay. I'm lying. I'm much too cheap to pull something like that on a random Saturday evening. But we were the only people there the entire time. Unfortunately, that only made the dining area feel even emptier than it looked.

We're totally down with minimalism, but this place looked like they had more space than they could handle. Imagine the atmosphere at Waldo Pizza (the one in Waldo), then imagine what its polar opposite would be: that's Zepi's. It was like how I imagine the interior design to be in 1984, except instead of Big Brother on the five large screen surrounding the room, there was ESPN. The breadsticks were pretty good, but we can do better. The salad was okay. And the pizza was fine. Not great. Just fine. It actually reminded me a little of Round Table Pizza. In the end, I was glad to have satisfied my curiosity, but I was also glad that we hadn't driven over there for that reason alone. Since we were in the area already, it worked out just fine. But, if we're over that way again and in the mood for pizza, it will be well worth a drive to Waldo for some exceptional pizza and less sterilized atmosphere.

And that's what we did this weekend!

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: No– The Hot Chocolate is for Me, Not My Kid

Friday night we went on a date to Panera Bread after Brookie got home from accompanying the Sister missionaries to an appointment involving a prospective young woman. Brookie ordered chicken noodle soup and a sandwich with strips of grilled chicken breast and applewood smoked bacon. I had a bread bowl with their broccoli cheddar soup. We really like Panera (though it's certainly no Zupas), but for some reason we're always a little hesitant to commit to it for dinner because there's nothing overly exciting about it.

After dinner we drove to the Lee's Summit shopping center to find a CD of Handel's Messiah (who happens to be our Messiah as well) and to take advantage of Brookie's $5 gift card for Starbucks. Not sure of when Starbucks closes, we went their first. Why does it always seem like I have a flashing neon sign around my neck that reads "Mormon" whenever I walk into a Starbucks? They make a good hot chocolate and a tremendous caramel apple cider. "So, yes, Mr. I-come-here-twice-a-day-for-my-Grande-Caffè-Mocha-Skim-Iced-Latte-Espresso, you're right. We're not here for coffee. So just go back to reading that global warming article in the New York Times on your laptop and stop staring at us from behind your chunky, black, non-prescription eye-ware. And in case you were wondering, yes, we are going to take the card for a free iTunes download while we're at it (maybe two). Deal with it."

We thoroughly enjoyed our hot beverages. Brookie had a short peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream, and I had a tall caramel apple cider. I burned my tongue, of course, so I let it cool off (my drink, not my tongue) while we were looking for Handel's Messiah at Best Buy. By the time we got back to the car, it was just right.

Saturday we had some Stake Conference meetings to attend. We also made a post-Thanksgiving dinner to try out a few recipes for stuffing and such. We had the Sister missionaries over for dinner on Sunday, and fed them leftover turkey in the form of Turkey Enchiladas. Last week we dealt with Thanksgiving leftovers by whipping up some BBQ pulled turkey sandwiches. Both the sandwiches and the enchiladas turned out to be good substitutes for traditional plain turkey sandwiches.

And that's pretty much what we did this weekend. Pretty dull considering the overwhelming excitement of last Thursday.

By the way, thanks for all of the well-wishing. Everyone's support and friendship is greatly appreciated.

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Adoption Update: We've Been Selected!

There's no point in trying to be cleverly vague about our good news. Most of you will have probably heard by now, but Brookie and I were selected by a birth mother in Nebraska and we found out Thursday, just before lunch.

On Monday, Brookie and I were talking on the phone, like we do every day before lunch. While on the phone, a email arrived in my inbox from itsaboutlove.org. It was from a birth mother saying that she was interested in talking with us and that she was due in January. Another email arrived almost simultaneously which included her phone number, which she had forgotten to put in her first email.

This wasn't the first email we had received. A little over a month ago, we received a communication from a birth father that asked us if we would be interested in taking their child. Before replying I called our adoption agent and asked for some guidance. He instructed us that when we replied to be sure to include a suggestion that they contact our agency. So in my reply I told them a little about ourselves, asked where they lived, and told them that LDS Family Services was handling our adoption, and that they should get in contact with the office nearest to them. We never heard back from that couple.

So when this email arrived Monday we called our agent again. I left a message saying that we were going to give her a call Monday night, and that we would keep things simple, and start trying to guide her to a local LDSFS office. He called back later that day and told us that he had actually already met this woman a few times, showed her our profile and collage, and that she had expressed interest in us. It was nice to know that her contact wasn't as random as the previous email we'd received and that she was already working with the agency through the process on her end.

I emailed her back saying that we would love to chat with her and told her we would call that night at 7:00pm. That evening there was a member of our ward that needed help moving things from a large trailer into her house. I went to help, and didn't get home until 7:25pm, so we called her right away. She didn't answer. We were a little worried that maybe she thought we were flakes for calling later than we had said we would call. We left a message and told her she could call us back anytime. We tried again Monday night, but still no answer.

The next day, she called my cell phone just before lunch time. We talked for about 25 minutes. Neither of us really knew what to say. I started off by telling her a little about ourselves and how we came to live in Kansas City. She asked some questions, and I answered. One of her biggest concerns was how we would feel about adopting a bi-racial child. She is Caucasian and the birth father is African-American. I assured her that race had absolutely no bearing on whether or not we would adopt a child, and she expressed her relief that we feel that way.

When we were through, I suggested that she give Brookie a call at work, which she did. Their conversation was a little more emotional that mine had been with her, I'm sure. They also spoke for about 20-25 minutes.

Then we waited.

She had mentioned that there was at least one other couple with which she wished to chat. We had been in this type of situation before. This time we were one of two couples, 50-50 odds. Last time we were close to adoption, in late August, we were one of three. The waiting part isn't much fun.

We waited the remainder of that Tuesday. Then we waited all day Wednesday. She had made it seem that she was close to making a decision, so we thought that we would hear from our agent either way.

Then, on Thursday, at about 11:00am, our agent called and gave me the good news that we had been selected. We have prayed and fasted so hard for this to come. Our family and our friends have prayed and fasted on our behalf. For over four years, and longer, the one blessing that we truly desired was to have children. We've been preparing for adoption for about 18 months, but in the moment that our agent told me that we had been chosen, it was, like, wow. Okay. Uh... wow.

I called Brooke at work and let her know. She was in shock. Our agent told us that maybe we should talk it over and pray about it. We offered a prayer of sincere gratitude, Brooke in the conference room of the middle school office, and me in our bedroom. When Brooke was finished she called me and told me that I could call our agent back and tell him we were on board and ready to move forward, and that she was done working and was coming home early.

We spent the bulk of Thursday evening calling friends and family spreading the good news. Here are some of the details: The birth mother is due January 22, and she's having a boy. She lives in northern Nebraska, so it's about an eight-hour drive from Kansas City.

Now all we need to do is work with the lawyers and get everything in order. We'll need to stay in Nebraska for anywhere from 4-5 days to 2 weeks, to comply with Interstate Compact laws.

We're glad we have some time to get things ready at home. We have seven weeks until the due date. There are all sorts of logistical things that we'll need to work out, but I'm sure that every thing will turn out fine.

We are so, so excited to given this chance to adopt and finally be the parents we've always wanted to be. I know that these scriptures in Isaiah are about the Savior's birth, but listening to Handel's Messiah this morning, I couldn't help but think how personal the words are to us at this time:

"For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given..."


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What We Did This Weekend: Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We had a great Thanksgiving. We were invited to join some of our friends for the holiday, and we had been looking forward to it for weeks. Thanksgiving morning we drove to a local high school and met up with some friends from church for the annual "Turkey Bowl." I participated in a little two-hand-touch football game while Brookie preemptively burned calories by running the high school stadium stairs and doing a few laps around the track. My football experience reached the grade school recess level, and that's how I played. No matter what play my team tried to diagram, I'd run down the field, then cut across it, waving my hand when I thought I was open. After Brookie had run for about 45 minutes, she came up to the field and we went home to get ready for dinner.

Our responsibility for the Thanksgiving feast consisted of copy-cat Jack Stack Cheesy Corn Bake, a chocolate pie, "turkey" rolls, a cheeseball, a cream-cheese-jalapeño-berry-sauce dip, and some crackers. Dinner was awesome. We showed up a few hours before the turkey was ready, which gave us time to chat with our friends, and play a round of dominoes and Disney Trivial Pursuit with their boys. After dinner we watched "The Court Jester," a funny, old show starring Danny Kaye, had some pie (I love pie), and all played a game of Cranium. We had an awesome Thanksgiving, and hope you did too.

Black Friday carries with it a few Reynolds family traditions. Since we refuse to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, one of those traditions is to start listening to the Christmas CDs that have been tucked away for 11 months. We also like to start (and preferably finish) our Christmas shopping, but we're not crazy. We don't try to fight the crowds for the early-bird-door-buster-get-'em-while-they-last-so-you'd-better-show-up-at-3AM-'cause-they-won't-last-more-than-15-minutes deals. We've found that if we just wake up whenever we're ready, get dressed, have a little breakfast, and then head to the stores, we seem to be behind the crowds just enough to not even know it's a busy shopping day. This year we took along our Flip Video to document our Black Friday fun.



Another Reynolds family Black Friday tradition is to buy our Christmas tree and put up the decorations. The raw footage used in the video below was over 45 minutes long, and I managed to trim it way down, having some fun along the way. Hope you like it.



And that's what we did this weekend! The the Christmas Spirit flow.

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