Registering (according to Dave)

I had a very different opinion of registering than Bethany did. I was lost in a maze of bottles, pacis, diaper things, and wipe warmers...who needs all this junk?!? But as Bethany said, "I was absolutely glowing!!" and she was, so I let her be the expert (since she was that as well) and just basked in her "glow."

After a little while (just before being overwhelmed), I decided to take a breather to Sears for some man-time. Upon returning, I noticed Bethany had covered maybe 10% of the store and had all kinds of strollers off the rack to "demo." It was a good thing that I appeared at that time because she had picked out a great tall stroller, but failed to notice that it would take an engineer, mechanic, strong man, & nuclear physicist to fold/break down. We decided on a model that was tall & easy for her to break down with only one hand.

We did the same for the pack-n-plays before God in His infinite mercy allowed the store to announce its CLOSING for the night. Needless to say, I'm sure we'll be back, and even I can agree that it is an exciting process.

*I do have to add my favorite part of the night: After the store had closed, we (along with another couple) were waiting to turn in our scanners. The other couple was using the same book ("Baby Bargains") that we were to register, so (naturally) Bethany started chatting with them about the book. When we started to walk away from them, the other lady (who was quite pregnant) turned to her husband and, in a very loud whisper, said, "Do you even think she's pregnant?" while pointing to Bethany...only my wife could look this good while expecting a baby! ;)

Our Surprises!

If you know Dave & me at all, then it's no shock to you that we absolutely *love* surprises! Needless to say, we had a lot of fun planning how we would tell our parents that we are adopting! Our fun started two weekends ago on Saturday night when we had my (Bethany's) parents over for dinner. Even though the crib isn't completely finished, Dave had set it up in the nursery, and we had arranged blocks on top of it to say "We Are Adopting a Baby."

After my parents were here, we told them that we weren't quite ready to eat because the hotdish in the oven needed a few more minutes. Dave said he would show them his latest woodworking project, so my parents naturally headed to the garage (aka "the woodshop"). When Dave redirected them toward the empty bedroom, I think my mom started to get suspicious. (Little did they also know that we had set up a videocamera to record their reactions!)

My mom opened the nursery door first, and you could hear both her & my dad gasp! At first, my dad said, "Princess, are you pregnant?" and, at nearly the same time, my mom started jumping up and down and screaming, "No Kal--read the blocks! Read the blocks!" My mom didn't stop jumping up and down for quite a while, and the entire time she was just screaming questions--"Is it a boy?" "Is it a girl?" "What state?" "Have you done your homestudy yet?"

Once we answered all her questions, and they started to calm down a little, we gave them little grandpa and grandma presents. (I personally think my dad's "Grandpa loves trains and me" shirt is absolutely adorable!!) When we finally sat down to eat dinner (nearly an hour later), Dave blessed the food, and before he said "Amen," I could hear my dad sniffling. After the prayer, my dad just sobbed and sobbed, saying "We have been praying for this for so many years! Every morning and evening we would pray together for this." It was one of those precious moments that I will never, ever forget.


And I love this picture of my mom & Dave laughing while watching it all again (and again) on the videocamera!


Our fun in telling Dave's parents occurred one week later, when we flew to Colorado for Easter! Tim & Susie recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, so on Friday night, we said we wanted to give them their belated anniversary present. (At this point, I'm surprised they didn't become suspicious, since our family doesn't usually give anniversary presents. They also didn't seem to think it was strange that we set up our camera right when they started opening the gift.)

Their present was a framed picture of Dave and me in front of crib. Dave & I were waiting with bated breath while they opened it. This is exactly what they said:

Susie: Oh this is such a cute picture! You guys look great! Tim, look how cute it is!
Tim: That is a cute picture of you two! Wow!
Susie: I just love this frame--the wood is....WHAT?!?!?

And that is when Dave perfectly snapped this picture!

Needless to say, they were completely shocked! They, too, had endless questions, and we stayed up until nearly midnight talking. We also had a little grandma gift for Susie. She is best-known for her fabulous cooking, so we had a little apron made that says "Grandma's Little Taste Tester." While the guys all skiied the next day, Susie & I went to an adorable little baby store in downtown Steamboat called "Duck Duck Goose."

We are all so excited to meet this little one...and in the meantime, the baby gear and sweet gifts just keep piling up! All the district music teachers are throwing me my first shower this Monday!

Our *big* news!

To our sweet family & friends:

We are so excited to share with you our big news that we are adopting a baby! Many of you know that we have struggled to grow our family for several years now. Our journey of infertility has been extremely difficult, but even through our darkest times, we clung to the promise from God's Word in Romans 8:28 that "all things work together for good for those who love God!" We are so excited to say that the best thing that has come from our journey is our joy & excitement at welcoming a precious little baby into our family through adoption!

We are working with a law center that specializes in placing domestic infants for adoption. Our past few months have been filled with more paperwork than we could ever imagine, completing our adoption homestudy, and preparing the nursery for little Rinn. In addition to all of this, Dave has kept busy building a gorgeous crib!

A prospective birthmother is able to view information on waiting families and choose which family she wants to raise her child. As excited as we are for the phone to ring with a call that we have been chosen, we have already discovered that this part of the journey is not easy, either. On Wednesday night, we received a call that a birthmother had selected us. After a tough 24 hours of reviewing all the information on the birth family, praying, and talking, we made the very difficult choice that we were not the right family for this baby. This experience has opened our eyes even more as to how much we need this entire process bathed in prayer.

Specifically, we ask you to pray for the following things:
**for the health & safety of our birthmother & baby
**for the families of the birthmother & birthfather to be supportive of their plans to place the baby for adoption
**for us to have wisdom in making a decision when another call comes
**for the details of the adoption--legal paperwork & potential travel out of state--to work out smoothly
**for our hearts to be patient & hopeful during this time of waiting

So many of you have supported and prayed for us through some very rough times, and we can't tell you enough how grateful we are for those prayers. We continue to ask for your prayers as we wait for little Rinn!

Spring Break in DC!

This year, my spring break started early as my friend Stephanie & I traveled to DC for the National Kodaly conference! When we finished our final level of Kodaly training last summer, we decided that we should "reward" ourselves for our hours & hours of hard work by attending the national conference. It ended up being an awesome experience! We went to many wonderful sessions full of great ideas on implementing the Kodaly philosophy into our classrooms...and though it's never fun to go back to school after spring break, I am glad for all the new ideas I have to bring back! Stephanie & I stayed at an absolutely adorable bed & breakfast in the DC area. Our favorite part of this cute place was the delicious breakfast! We were also able to play a few late-night games of Scrabble!
Deb, my sweet friend from Taylor, lives in the Baltimore area, and she picked me up for lunch one day during the conference. We hadn't seen each other for 4 years! Our few hours together were packed with lots of laughs and catching up!
For those of you who know me well, you are familiar with my two greatest fears: heights & escalators. During this trip, I was "privileged" to face those fears together in the escalator that took us down to the Metro. When I first saw how tall & steep the escalator was, I really didn't think I would be able to make it, especially since I had to lug my huge suitcase behind me. But...I'm proud to say that I became comfortable enough with it that I was able to run down the escalator (suitcase in tow!) to catch the Metro on the last day of my trip--yikes!!! Once our conference was done, Stephanie & I spent Sunday at the Museum of American History & the Holocaust Memorial Museum. There was a great display on the First Ladies at the Museum of American History. We also saw Lincoln's stovepipe hat, Dorothy's red shoes from "The Wizard of Oz," and Julia Child's recreated kitchen! While extremely emotional, the Holocaust Museum was also incredible. I was amazed at the depth of the displays, and I definitely left with my heart hurting.

The second part of my trip to DC was spent with my dear friend Nicole! She & Beckett came to Texas last year on my spring break, and I am so glad that I was able to visit them now that they live in the DC area. We spent lots of time talking, eating great food, shopping, & playing with Beckett. We also toured the Capitol on Wednesday morning before I flew home. I am so thankful for sweet friendships that stay strong, even when living so far apart.

Reflections on March 8

It's hard for me to believe that today is the 2 year anniversary of miscarrying our first baby. In some ways, it's hard to believe how fast the last 2 years have passed; on the other hand, these last 2 years have seemed like a never-ending cycle of disappointment, tears, & deep heartache.

When I first found out that I was scheduled to sing at church this weekend, the anniversary of our loss, I was very worried that I would be a bawling mess on stage--especially since last year I stayed buried in our house on March 8. But, God gave me peace that I could sing this weekend with strength only found in Him. Yes, there were tears as I sang today, but they were sweet tears as I reflected on who I was 2 years ago and who God has shaped (and still is shaping) me into through our miscarriage & subsequent infertility.

Two years ago, I couldn't see all the good God could bring from this pain. This list isn't exhaustible; but, these are the main "good" things that I am thankful for right now:
--a depth & strength in our marriage that before I only imagined
--deep, real-life friendships with other girls forged from our shared experiences of infertility
--knowing personally in my heart-not just my head-that Jesus is faithful; that He truly does give us the grace we need to get through each day; and that God can cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him, as we are promised in Romans 8:28

Of course, I know there will still be hard days...after all, our arms are still empty. But, I can say that I am truly thankful for the pain & brokenness God has brought me through; because, the joy I felt today as I sang the following lyrics is a joy that can only come from being delivered from a place of hopelessness & despair.

I love you Lord, I worship You
Hope which was lost now stands renewed
I give my life to honor this
The love of Christ, the Savior King

Thank you, Jesus, for hope renewed.

Minnesota, that wimpy state!

My third grade students are preparing for their program, “A Musical Tribute to Texas,” which they will present on March 10. One of their pieces is the Texas state anthem, “Texas, Our Texas.”

The students were rehearsing the state anthem yesterday when I stopped them to discuss the lyrics. I referred to the line “Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev’ry test, O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest”

I asked, “What does boldest and grandest mean?” The students discussed how Texas was strong, great, mighty, etc. Then I said, “Well, right now neither your singing or your posture show that you are singing about a strong & mighty state. You look and sound like you’re singing about a wimpy state.”

At this point, one of the boys yells out, “Yeah, a wimpy state like Minnesota!”

I wasn’t sure if he knew that I was from Minnesota or not, so I pretended to get very offended. I started going on and on about how I was born and raised in Minnesota, and how dare he say that Minnesota was a wimpy state!

I think I actually scared him a little…and then he stopped me and said, “Mrs. Rinn, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were from Minnesota. I just said that because of the Vikings!”

Valentine's Day '09

On Friday night, we had a little Valentine party at our house with a few other couples. We had a lot of fun playing both "Apples to Apples" and "Battle of the Sexes." Of course, the guys won "Battle of the Sexes," because they had questions such as "Where would you use the product 'Cascade'?" while we girls had much more difficult questions, like "Which sport uses the term '301'?" (Does anybody know?) No matter though--we had a great time!
I was scheduled to sing at church this weekend, but instead my sweet husband had been scheming behind my back! I had planned on taking a nap on Saturday afternoon before heading to church for rehearsal on Saturday afternoon; little did I know Dave had reset the alarm on my phone and I woke up "late"--or at least I thought I had overslept! Dave then revealed the first part of the plan to me....that he had already talked to Brian, our worship leader, to let him know that I wouldn't be singing this weekend since I was being abducted! If you know me at all, you know I really love surprises, so at this point I got very excited! We headed out for dinner at our new favorite Italian place (Niki's Italian on Davis).

After dinner, Dave started driving downtown, so I thought we were possibly going to see a show at Bass Hall. Instead, he drove us to the new Omni Hotel! They just opened on January 17, & Dave was able to get an opening special. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous, and we had a beautiful view of all the downtown lights! Wow--this was Dave's year to plan Valentine's Day, so we'll have to see if I can top his surprise next year! ;) Truly, though, I am so thankful for my precious husband..... Happy Valentine's Day from the Rinns!