Merry Christmas

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!' "  Luke 2: 8-14

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
Preston and Angela

Two celebrity sightings in Bham in one night...at the same restaurant!!!

So last night was really random. Yesterday afternoon I started really craving La Paz, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Bham but one we rarely go to b/c it's on the other side of town. We hadn't been in several months and so I told Preston I wanted to go. Even though Preston had the day off and already had dinner thawed out at home, he agreed (after trying to sway me to choose somewhere closer to home). As we are sitting there I see this extremely pretty woman who looks really familiar. She smiles at me and I start racking my brain on where I know her from. Then it hits me...it's Sara Evans! She ends up sitting right next us with her husband Jay Barker (former football quarterback and current radio personality in town) and a bunch of kids! They were sitting there waiting on their food, so I went over to get my picture with her. She was super nice!

So then, as we are sitting back at our table eating again, I look up and at the back of the room, I see Taylor Hicks!!! As we are leaving I approach him and we get his picture as well. He too was extremely nice. Needless to say, we were glad I had a craving for La Paz that day. :)

Seeking and Waiting on the Lord

I just wanted to write a quick note of thanks to all those who are so supportive in our adoption process. To all those who call or email to ask "Have you heard anything yet??!!" It's great to have people walking beside us who are eagerly anticipating our baby almost as much as we are. At times it gets a little hard to just be "waiting" and this morning the Lord impressed on me some scriptures which I found to be very encouraging. I wanted to share some of them. They all center around seeking the Lord and waiting for the Lord:

"I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." - Psalm 34:4
"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him." - Lamentations 3:25
"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." - Isaiah 40:31
"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him." - Psalm 37:7
"Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord." - Psalm 27:14
"Behold this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." - Isaiah 25:9

I hope these verses serve to encourage you as much as they encourage me. No matter what you are going through, it's nice to be reminded of how good the Lord is. He is definitely worth waiting on. We sometimes not necessarily forget, but we just take this for granted and don't really focus on it like we should.

Happy Halloween from Count Dogula and Wonderwoman!!!

Our "babies" dressed up as Count Dogula and Wonderwoman for Halloween this year. I thought each costume suited their personalities very well, especially Samson. Bella's costume was a little to long for her legs, but as long as she was seated, it was fine. It was somewhat of an ordeal to get these pictures taken, so I have posted a "photo shoot" to see several different poses. People have been asking how we got them to sit still and pose so well...The answer is treats! They'll do anything for a treat. Trick or treat!!!!   :)

"I vant to lick your face...Bwa Ha Ha!!!"

Enjoying her "treats"

Our very attentive watch dog

I feel bad because Bella gets so much more blog face time than Samson, so I decided to post some cute pictures of Samson "standing guard" at our house. He likes to sit on the arm of our loveseat/top of our end table so he can have a good, clear view out our front door window. He truly is our little watch dog!



Charlotteville,Va

We took a mini-vacation to Charlottesville, Va last weekend. The event that spurred this mini-vacation was my cousin's Josh's wedding on 10/10/10, which was set to occur at 10:10 am, however it ran a little behind schedule, however, I digress. Anyway, we had a great time exploring Charlottesville, including a visit to Thomas Jefferson's homestead, Monticello, which means "little mountain" in Italian. We were reminded again of what a brilliant man TJ was. Amazing. The city of Charlottesville also holds claim of being home to Dave Matthews and John Grisham. It is a very beautiful part of the country, that's for sure. Retirement area, perhaps???

Looking out across the vegetable garden area of Monticello

Preston pondering away in the little "thinking" house of Jefferson, where he came up with all his good ideas.

Another view of the "thinking" house and vegetable gardens

Preston posing with TJ, who was a pretty tall man for his day

The beautiful front lawn of Monticello (where we had just witnessed a marriage proposal!)

Once again in front of Monticello

We are now at the lodge at Montfair the evening before the wedding

Me and my little cousin, Rachel, who isn't so little anymore!

Bonfire

Posing with the groom, Josh, who was my partner in crime throughout childhood

Cousins' pic

Us with my parents before the wedding

Having fun with Rach

It was a beautiful day out by the lake

What happens in Vegas...

...stays in Vegas! However, below are a few pictures showing some of the highlights of our trip. It was definitely a fun, memorable week. With all the scheduled activities involving the ACEP conference and dinners, we never had time to see any shows, so we would love to go back one day to be able to do that!We were able to walk around at night after dinner though and look at several of the beautiful hotels.

The gorgeous centerpiece that greeted us in the foyer of our hotel, the Four Seasons

Our 1st view of the strip, looking out of our hotel window

Outside at Mix Lounge, on top of The Hotel

Night view of Vegas, looking out from atop of The Hotel

My first Black Jack experience! I want to give a shout-out to Dr. Roman...Thanks for being a great coach!

Us again after a very long day...at this point we had been up for 26 hours (with the time difference and extremely early flight that morning)...there's so much energy in Vegas though! Not as much as New York, but close :)

Preston with his "twin" brother Dennis. Apparently staff at UAB get them confused all the time!

Hanging out with friends Brooke and William, once again at Mix Lounge

Here we are at Treasure Island, to watch the pirate/siren show, per Patrick's suggestion.

Hanging out with dolphins at a dinner hosted outside in the gardens at The Mirage

Preston suffering the same fate as Siegfried (or Roy, I forget which one)

Up close with one of the BEAUTIFUL white tigers in the gardens at The Mirage. They truly were gorgeous.

Some of Preston's fellow residents, having a good time on the dance floor

Posing in some of the cool seating inside of The Mirage

Preston's GQ pose

Here we are outside of The Bellagio, awaiting the fountain show to start. The beautiful Paris hotel is in the background.

One of the fountain shows that occurred every 15 minutes in front of The Bellagio, my favorite hotel. We stayed and watched 3 shows our 1st night to witness...they were our favorite part of Vegas. Each show we saw was choreographed to different music and each was phenomenal!!!

Some more of Preston's fellow residents, bonding after a nice homestyle Italian dinner

Dennis with one of the Italian gentlemen serenading us

A view of the golden exterior of The Mandalay Bay, sitting next to the pool of The Four Seasons. Not only were the chairs extremely comfortable, but a personal pitcher of ice water with lemon was constantly filled at my chair, popsicles and frozen melon balls were brought around and offered, and pool staff members walked around and offered to "spritz" me...it was nice being so spoiled!!! No other pool experience compares!

Our anniversary dinner at Alize, the award-winning Andre Rochat restaurant atop The Palms, included a personalized menu greeting for us!

Us and our view of the Las Vegas strip, from Alize

The restaurant treated us to some scrumptous chocolate covered strawberries and cookies :) Those along with our delicious chocolate souffles, made it an absolute perfect dessert!!!

Topping off a wonderful anniversary dinner by going back to The Bellagio for some more romantic fountain shows

Our anniversary evening and Vegas trip coming to a close...Thanks again to some good coaching (and a Black Jack rules card given me by Preston) we ended the trip riding a lucky streak!!!