GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Congratulations to Patiently Waiting! I'll contact you on your blog so you can send me your address! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. DH & I arrived home this afternoon, and it only took us an extra hour with traffic. (In years past it's been 2 or 3 extra hours- ugh!) Thank goodness we left early this morning. On the way home I was so excited to get my Prayer Buddy name! Woo-hoo! I can't wait to see what God has is store for all of us this Advent.

Happy First Sunday of Advent Everyone! :)

St. Cecilia & BLOG GIVEAWAY!!

Happy Feast of St. Cecilia!!

I started piano lessons in third grade and knew even then that my life would center around music. Now, I really have my dream job - teaching children to love and appreciate music. I can remember my high school choir director telling me that he'd never been to work a day in his life. I'm so fortunate to say the same... I'm paid to do something I love. And I've been blessed to get to know some wonderful children and amazing families over the years.

When I was in Italy for the first time visiting a close friend for Easter, we went to the Catacombs of San Callisto where St. Cecilia's remains were found, and were said to be uncorrupt. Our tour guide said that she was found with one hand extending one finger and the other hand extending 3 fingers indicating her love and belief in One God and the Trinity. I have a little statue in my piano studio of St. Cecilia and have often told her story to students. If you'd like to read more about her, go here.

I'm sure I mentioned it before, but one other special reason I celebrate today is that my wonderful husband proposed on this feast day! It's 5 years today! :)

Now... for the giveaway!! I'm going to give away the latest Christmas album by Michael Buble. I had hoped to have in my hot little hands at this point. (Yes, I am bad and I have listened to Christmas music before Thanksgiving!!) Unfortunately, there was a little problem with the shipment and I didn't receive it before DH & left for our Thanksgiving trip. So, I've had to settle for listening to the album on Yo.uTube so far. I think I could listen to his voice all day.

How to enter the giveaway....

1) Follow my blog if you haven't "officially" started yet and leave a response to this post letting me know you have... and leave a prayer intention.

2) If you are already following, leave a prayer intention for me! My husband and I have a weekly Adoration time at our church and I'll be taking your intentions with me during Advent.

I will post the winner on Sunday the 27th!

Good luck and Happy Feast of St. Cecilia!

2:30 AM

Apparently lemon tea with honey sparks terrific imagination. Consumed right before bed. So that you wake up at 2:15 AM raring to go. In more ways than one...... ;)

Sooo... after lying there for a bit trying to fall back to sleep, I decided to get up and do something about the ideas buzzing in my head. And now, 5 1/2 hours later, my profile book is almost done! :-D

And it looks really good, if I do say so myself, haha. :) I even wrote our Dear Birthmother letter! Of course DH has to add his part to introduce me, and go over the birthmother letter. I'm sure he'll have things to add or edit. But I feel great about it overall. The only thing I do need is a good cover photo.

Question for all of you who have done profiles... here's the one I'm considering:

This was on our Italy trip last fall and I really like our smiles. (Hello!? Of course we're smiling, we're eating breakfast outside a little cafe in Venice!!) But, the random guy between our heads... Maybe I can try to fade the background or something.

Or ... should I go for a more formal photo and put this on the inside with our Dear Birthmother letter? I want a photo on that page to break up the writing. (I don't actually have a formal photo yet. I'm hoping to get a friend to take some pictures of us outside this weekend as long as it's nice.

Anyway... your thoughts??

Oh, and I also have 2 other smaller photos on the cover page, but this is the "attention grabber". The one that says "PICK US!! PICK US!!!" :-D

And now... well.. I'm a little tired now. The adrenaline must be wearing off... I hope I don't fall asleep at mass!

Woo-hoo!

For 2 reasons... :)

1) DH & I had a great trip to Pittsburgh this past weekend - fun times with family and the Steelers game on Sunday! It was a late game and we got back really late Sunday night, and I am still recovering from sleep deprivation, but it was worth it... especially since the Steelers beat the Patriots!! Fin.a.lly. :)

I tried loading a video of the crowd cheering after the Steelers got the safety at the end of the game, but since it's taking forever to upload (the file is probably too big), this photo I saw posted over and over again on fac.ebook will probably be enjoyed also by the lovely Rebecca and Patiently Waiting... who are both Steelers fans!

2) Another BIG woo-hoo is that we are Home Study approved! I got an email from our agency Monday morning that our copy is on its way to us. Yay!! I'll feel better when I have it in my hands, but all the same, it's good news. For those of you adopting, how long did you work on your profile books? I'm creative, but I'm worrying that my perfectionist tendencies are going to make it take longer. Maybe I should just give myself a deadline. :)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Don't forget to keep praying for this sweet blogger who had surgery yesterday!