Holiday Plans

We recently came into a small sum of money as part of a settlement with Murray's previous employer. This money, along with Murray's first paycheck at his new school, has meant we have paid back nearly all of our borrowed money from the last few months while we were on one income, and it will also pay for our ceiling to be re-hung, painted, and a new light fitting put in our kitchen - hurrah!

In addition, we have booked a holiday for ourselves for the July school holidays! We are going to Melbourne first for six nights, and then flying up to Sydney for a further six nights! The main reason for going is that Murray would love to go to a State of Origin (Rugby League) game, and game three of the series happens to be on then. We have managed to get tickets for the game, so he is a happy chappy right now!

Also my brother moved to Sydney in January, so I really would love to catch up with him and see where he is living etc. Melbourne was thrown is as a compromise as I love the city and lifestyle there, and I've never been to the MCG so we are hoping to go to a Friday night game while we are there.

On top of all of that, it is Murray's birthday while we are over there, and it will be my birthday the day after we get back, so it will be nice for us to have a 'celebratory birthday week' for the two of us. We won't be in hotels the whole time.

We have booked three nights in hotels in each city, with the other three nights staying at my brothers place in Sydney (Near the Holsworthy Barracks), and spending three nights in St Kilda at one of Murray's friends houses, so they can work on some songwriting together - one of his favourite past times!

However thanks to that, I will probably have a couple of days to entertain myself in Melbourne - definitely thinking shopping! Any of my Melbournian or Sydney-sider friends that would like to catch up, please drop me a line!

It's so nice to have a holiday to look forward to! Only 4.5 months to go, not that I'm counting of course!

Makeover time

Today was a makeover day for me! I've blogged over at my other site, so pop over and take a look at the new me!

The makeover!

Adoption statistics for Western Australia 2011/12

When I discuss adoption in the real world, people are always asking me questions. Quite often people tell me that I will have a 'baby in no time'! If only it were that easy. A few years back I put some stats up from AIHW with how many children were adopted in Australia. I've just been reading through the latest annual report for the agency that manages adoption in Western Australia and thought I'd update people on the latest statistics.

In the 12 months July 2011-June 2012, there were 26 adoptions finalised. Sounds like a lot right? Well 18 of those adoptions were 'known' adoptions, basically where a step-parent adopts a child or the adoption of an adult. So that leaves 8 adoptions that were 'unknown'. Five of those were intercountry adoptions. Only three were local adoptions in WA, and only 55 local adoptions were finalised across Australia. The year before, it was 4 local adoptions; in 09/10 there were 12, and 08/09 there was 7. The numbers are up and down, but even over the last couple of years, the numbers have dropped.

Some other facts:

•  36% of the local adoptions were of infants aged under 12 months
• The median age of the birth mothers of children who were the subject of a finalised local
  adoption in 2011–12 was 22, with ages ranging from 15 to 43.
• Almost all (95%) local adoptions finalised in 2011–12 could be considered ‘open’—that is, all parties were happy to allow a degree of contact or information exchange to occur between families

The odds aren't in our favour, I know that. But you have to have something to hold on to, something to hope for. You never know what's around the corner.


References:
Adoptions Australia 2011-12
DCP Annual Report 2011-12

Our first dance

At our wedding, our first dance song was a really special moment. We had a friend teach us a few moves and we practiced a basic waltz with a few twists and twirls to jazz things up. Even now when we go to other weddings, or are at other functions, this dance has become our go-to dance. Each time we do it, Murray asks me if I remember dancing at our wedding. It's one of my favourite memories.

We danced to a song by Tamia and Eric Benet called Spend my life with you. I didn't want something that I had heard anyone else use, and while it apparently is quite popular in the US, none of our friends had heard it before our wedding.

The lyrics go like this:

I never knew such a day could come  
And I never knew such a love could be inside of one 
I never knew what my life was for  
But now that you're here I know for sure
 
I never knew till I looked in your eyes 
I was incomplete till the day you walked into my life 
And I never knew that my heart could feel so precious and pure  
One love so real
 
Can I just see you every morning when I open my eyes?  
Can I just feel your heart beating beside me every night?  
Can we just feel this way together till the end of all time? 
Can I just spend my life with you?
 
Now baby the days and the weeks and the years will roll by  
But nothing will change the love inside of you and I 
And baby I'll never find any words that could explain  
Just how much my heart, my life, my soul you've changed
 
Can you run to these open arms when no one else understands?  
Can we tell God and the whole world, I'm your woman, you're my man? 
Can't you just feel how much I love you with one touch of my hand?  
Can I just spend my life with you?
 
No touch has ever felt so wonderful (You are incredible) 
And a deeper love I've never known (I'll never let you go)
I swear this love is true (Now and forever to you)  
Only for you (To you)
 
Can I just see you every morning when I open my eyes? 
Can I just feel your heart beating beside me every night?  
Can we just feel this way together till the end of all time?  
Can I just spend my life with you?
 
Can you run to these open arms when no one else understands? 
Can we tell God and the whole world, you're my woman And you're my man? 
Can't you just feel how much I love you with one touch of my hand?  
Can I just spend my life with you, can I just spend my life with you?
 
Can I just spend my life with you?  
Can I just see you every morning when I open my eyes?

The words are so beautiful, and mean just as much now as they did the day we married. I feel proud to call myself Murray's wife, and to tell people that he is my husband. 

I guess I'm thinking about all of this because Valentine's Day is upon us again. Yes it's not a real holiday, and it's overly commercialised, but I'm more than happy to take it as another day that I can proudly declare my love for my husband, both to him, and the world at large. After nine years together, it honestly doesn't get much better than this.

Adoption progress

I finished up my adoption medical report today at my GP's, and come Monday morning, it will be all sent of to the department! Once more thing to tick off our list! There was a concern over the ketone levels in my urine sample, but that is to be expected with my weight loss and the bariatric surgery. My cholesterol is back to normal levels, and I have dropped even more weight since my initial medical report, so my BMI is down to around 31/32. Cholesterol and weight were the things the medical panel were concerned with the last time round, so I'm hoping that this time I might get through unscathed!

Murray has been working really hard this past month to eat healthy and try and control his cholesterol through diet. In the process he has also lost 5kg which is a great result! We are going to wait another week or two and then send him off for his cholesterol check, and hopefully that shows an improvement, and we can finalise his medical report as well.

While we were at our GP's today, the doctor also did up Murray's referral to the IVF clinic, so as of Monday, both of us will have our referrals in place, and the countdown to the 'within 6 month' timeframe begins. 

All systems are go! We are slowly but steadily making progress on our house. Last year storms wiped out part of our side fence and left holes in our patio roof, and the year before our ceiling started to collapse and ever since is being held up with tek-screws. Well all that changes in 2013 - our patio roof has been replaced, my cars windscreen was replaced due to chemical damage, and in early March, our kitchen will have it's ceiling repaired, along with a new light fitting and getting painted!

Although it has been extremely difficult with Murray not working, we have made it through the other end and all the better for it. We are now a lot more careful with our money, and also know that we can cope if we ever drop down to one income if we need to. We owe Murray's parents a chunk of money which they lent us to tide us over, but that will all be repayed with our first pay check this month, Murray now has a spectacular job at a new school that he loves to death, and everything has turned out for the best.

I haven't posted too much about my weight loss on this side, but if anyone is interested, head over to Lose and Hope to check out my latest progress. So far I am down 35kg+ and am feeling great!