The Walker Blog: 2009

12-11-09 Updates!

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Adoption | 4:02 PM

Well we attended our informational meeting yesterday in Matthews. We have been quite busy this week with preparations for adoption! On Tuesday we went downtown Raleigh and got our fingerprints and criminal background checks done. Then while we were out and about, we decided to get the physicals completed and out of the way.

It ended up being a long day, but we were able to get a lot of really big items finished. On Thursday we headed to Matthews for the CAS informational meeting. We are so glad that we went! It was very informative and got us really excited and motivated.

This morning, Cathy went to the bank to get the last of our mandatory documents and then she dropped off our formal application packet at the post office! It's in the mail and out of our hands at this point. We're praying that everything moves smoothly and all works out as it's meant to.

Last weekend we created a registry on amazon.com. Feel free to go on and start buying us things for our nursery (lol). We picked a frog theme because it's gender neutral and Cathy has a special love of frogs and we have an abundance of frog-themed items from her classroom that can go into the room when the baby gets older.

We will be sending out cards for the registry as soon as we're finished with the home study.

Speaking of the home study... that's the next step in the process. We should hear from someone at CAS in the next two weeks (just before Christmas) and they will assign us a case worker and then we'll make appointments for them to meet with us together, us separately, and then at our house. Then when that's done, we go back to Matthews and meet with Doris (she and her husband Jim are the co-founders of CAS) and then we give her our book and get put on their website and go onto the waiting list!

It's exciting and stressful all at the same time. We don't know how long/soon it will be before we get a baby. It could be a few months, could be more than a year. So we're going to try and get the nursery ready and get items now so that when we do get a baby-- we're ready to roll.

Cathy has been referring the the baby as "Tadpole Walker" because we have a frog theme and it's a baby (like a baby frog). So... when will our little tadpole arrive??? We'll definitely keep you posted! In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!!

Can you believe it's two weeks until Christmas??? Cathy's parents are supposed to be coming down for a week and we're eagerly anticipating their arrival. It's been so long since we saw them... it'll be so nice to see them and maybe even take a trip to the beach!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
The Walkers

11-29-09 The Month of November

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Adoption, Holidays | 8:36 PM

Let's see... it's been a month since we last wrote and there have been a few new developments with our lives.

As most of our friends and family knows already, we're actively pursuing domestic adoption. We have talked about it for a while and have gone back and forth about when the time would be right to actually do something, and that time has come! We submitted an initial application back on November 5th and then waited for two weeks before hearing if we were accepted or not. Well, we were accepted and asked to complete a formal application. It's a monster- we have to have physicals, references, criminal background checks, fingerprints, and submit a bunch of legal documents. We also had to complete an "Autobiography" which was a beast. Cathy's was 26 pages and Steve's was 19. We worked on our autobiographies all day Friday and spent over six hours total working on them.

We will be going to an information session in December and then submitting all of our paperwork before December 20th. Then we wait... and hopefully they'll assign us a social worker to complete a home-study. Once that's finished we have to complete a family album and then an online album and write letters to the expectant mothers and hope that someone picks us!

It's a process that can be as short as four months (March) or as long as 18 months. It just depends on fate and what's meant to happen. We ask that everyone keep us in their prayers as we go through this adventure! In the end, having a baby be ours makes it all worth while, but it's still grueling and stressful!

On another note, Steve had a great trip to New Mexico. He's still loving his job and enjoys going to work each day (which is a wonderful blessing). Cathy was just named Teacher of the Year at her elementary school and we're very excited for that! She was nominated by her fellow teachers and then they voted. She's very humbled by the award.

This weekend was Thanksgiving and we spent it together. We were invited by a few different friends to join them for dinner, but decided that it might be our last Thanksgiving as just us (let's hope), so we stayed home and enjoyed a feast for two. Cathy made a turkey, delicious greenbean casserole, and stuffing and Steve made mashed potatoes from scratch. Cathy made Magic Cookie Bars for dessert and it was just enough food for the two of us.

We are getting ready for the holiday season. We're hoping to have Cathy's mom and dad come for a visit from the 27th-2nd (they came down during that time last year as well). We plan on going back to Michigan/Indiana in May for the wedding of Cathy's brother Scott and his fiance Christie.

That's about it from us. We'll keep you posted on the adoption information. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!
:)
The Walkers

10-26-09 Back From The Mitten

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Family, Vacation | 3:26 PM

We are back from our trip to the north!! We left on Saturday, October 17th and arrived in Indiana to visit Steve's dad and Sue Ann. We had a nice visit with them and enjoyed a bonfire while there. It was a little colder than NC, but not too bad. We also went on a nice hike through the woods near their farm. We also went to Lumpy's for breakfast with Steve's dad on Sunday, and then on Monday we went to breakfast with some of his friends from Verizon.

We headed over to the old house (where Steve grew up) and met his dad's realtor. He's trying to sell the house and there are a few people interested in buying it. We hope it all works out for him!!

We had dinner at a nice Amish-like buffet on Tuesday night and then we headed out on Wednesday, October 21st and drove the four hours up to Michigan.

On the way, we stopped at a Meijer and Steve was able to get a ton of Cincinatti Bengals stuff and a couple UD shirts. He got a zip-up hoodie and a polar fleese jacket, and then a couple t-shirts.

We arrived at Cathy's twin's house around 3:00 and we were able to meet our new niece Lilyanne Opal (aka LOG). Cathy was so excited to finally hold her and we took a lot of pictures of LOG. Scott headed off for work and we headed to Cathy's parents house. They all played Guitar Hero and then also had fun singing on our two American Idol Karaoke games that we brought down with us.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Canton. We were able to do some shopping and drove around and saw how the area has changed (and in a lot of cases, not changed). Cathy got an Elvis wig and glasses from the Halloween store and then she also got a skeleton hoodie costume. Instant costume. :)

We went to dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ and it was absolutely delicious. We wish we had a Mongolian BBQ near us!! We spent every night at her parents playing on the Wii; either singing or playing on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band.

On Friday, Cathy and her mom went to see a psychic. She's going to write a blog about it on her other blog (be sure to read it if you're curious as to what the psychic said).

On Saturday, we had LOG's Baptism. Alex was also being Baptized. It was at St. Richard's and Fr. Terry performed the sacrament. We went to Buddy's Pizza for lunch after the ceremony. We actually went back to the hotel and changed before heading over to Buddy's.

After Buddy's, we went to Parmenter's Cider Mill and enjoyed their famous cider slushes. Steve had plain cider, but Cathy enjoyed the slush (it's as close to a Slurpee that you can get)! It was raining and got very cold while we were there, so we didn't get to explore the mill much, but it was a cute little place. Scott, Christie, Alex, and LOG were there so it was great!

We went back to Cathy's parents house for one last jam session and then we had N&N Coney Island for dinner before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the hotel.

We headed back to NC around 6am (we had to stop and pick up Ned). It was a pretty uneventful drive back, it was LONG, but not bad. We arrived in Holly Springs around 7ish. The cats were VERY excited to see us. We let them come upstairs last night and they all slept in the bed with us.

Steve leaves tomorrow for a conference in New Mexico and Cathy gets to enjoy her track out for the remaining two weeks.

Check out our Facebook accounts to see pictures of our trip!!
:)
The Walkers

9-5-09 Has It Really Been Three Months???

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Labor Day Weekend 2009 | 9:35 PM

Some things that have happened since we last posted...

1) Lilyanne Opal arrived!! She was born on August 20th!!

2) Cathy finished her school year and successfully started another one!

3) Cathy's parents came to NC for a visit at the end of July.

4) We went to Carolina Beach for a week to celebrate our third anniversary!

5) Cathy's business has REALLY taken off!! She's been getting an order just about every other day!!

6) Steve has had some reorganization take place at work...

7) We ordered season tickets for the Durham Performing Arts Center and we'll be seeing seven spectacular shows!!

8) We went to Michigan and surprised Cathy's mom for Mother's Day and for her graduation (she got her Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry), and for Scott's graduation (he got his BS from Ferris State).

9) We saw Kenny Chesney in concert.

10) We saw Heart in concert.

11) We saw Jimmy Buffett in concert.

Anyway... this is Labor Day weekend. It's always hard to spent this weekend away from family because for so many years, Cathy was with her parents and spending time exploring the upper penninsula of Michigan. Her brother Dave is actually in Michigan for the week, and her whole family is up at the cottage in Reed City.

We're going to be going to our last Bulls game on Monday, and then we're going to have a BBQ with two of Cathy's friends from work. It should be a very relaxing holiday.

We're planning on going to Michigan in October to visit everyone. We'll be going to Indiana to see Steve's dad and Sue Ann, and then heading up to Michigan to see Cathy's parents. Lilyanne will be baptized, and Scott and Christie have asked us to be the Godparents! We can't wait!! The Baptism is on October 24th in Michigan. We'll be coming home that Sunday (the 25th) because Steve is going to a conference in New Mexico the following week.

That's it for now... we'll try and stay on top of this!!!

:)
The Walkers

Kelly Clarkston and Wild Weather

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Weather | 2:46 PM

So we bought Kelly Clarkston's new cd a few weeks ago. Not sure how everyone reading this feels about her, but we love her. Her cd is so great! It's very catchy!

We are having some crazy storms here in NC!! Last night there were a bunch that ripped through and cause tornadoes and then we're currently on a tornado watch until after 9pm tonight.

Trying to stay dry!!!

The Walkers

Cinco de Mayo

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | American Idol, Dinner | 9:23 PM

So today is Cinco de Mayo! Whoo hoo!! Viva Mexican independence!! LOL We had some CRAZY storms tonight-- tornadoes and such and fortunately, Steve made it home safely from work. The people at Burt's had to take cover because there was a tornado warning issued for Wake County. Kinda scary-- and he was in a car.

Steve got home from work and then we decided to try a new Mexican place for dinner. Los Tres Mayguyas (something like that) in Fuquay-Varina. It was VERY clean and Cathy really liked their salsa-- however, the rest kinda fell flat. The sauce used on the enchiladas wasn't very appealing and the beans and rice weren't the best. We decided to try something new, but we'll be going back to El Mason again.

The service at the restaurant was SOOOOO SLOOOOOW!!! They only had two servers for the entire restaurant (apparently the others called in sick). It was packed and two servers. So, dinner took a lot longer than we had hoped.

Then we drove to Sonic for dessert (small cream pie shakes) and they had super slow service too! It took more than 30 minutes to get our shakes! We ended up getting home at 8:40 and missed 40 minutes of Idol (Cathy was NOT happy). It was rock week and we were both really excited to see how the top four did, but because the DVR had something else listed as a priority-- it didn't record Idol!

Oh well... it's just television right?

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!!

The Walkers

Chuck Dio

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Chuck Dio | 8:01 PM

So we just got home from picking up Chuck. The dealership said they resealed the windshield. Hopefully that's all that needed to be done. We'll find out when we're out in the rain next time.

Cathy went to the movies today and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. She said it was alright. Very predictable and was exactly what she expected it to be. Of course, she loves Matthew McConaughey so it was more like a movie of drooling over him than anything else. LOL.

That's it for today...

The Walkers

Bulls Game

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Bulls Game | 2:53 PM

We're about to head out the door to our second Bulls game of the season. We're excited. It's supposed to rain tonight, so it could be an early night for us. Fortunately, we have seats that are under the cover so we won't get too wet.

Happy Sunday!!

The Walkers

A Post A Day In May

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | A Post A Day in May | 6:02 PM

Well it has been a while!! We've been having so much fun that we've lost track of the time! :)

We have finally finished updating the Walker Website! Please check it out if you're interested! www.steveandcat.net/steveandcat. It's wonderful and has a bee theme. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Cathy got a new Ford Edge about two weeks ago. She has been wanting one for a while now, and it was the right time to buy. We were able to get 0% financing, and they gave us a pretty good deal on her Escape. It wasn't as much as we had hoped, but it needed the air-conditioner fixed and now we don't have to even worry about it.

Cathy is on her track out right now and has been enjoying herself. We rented a beach condo for her next track out (July-August). We'll be on the beach and it'll be nice to get away for a few days. We'll have a chance to explore the Outer Banks and see the coast of NC. The next trip after that one will take us to the mountains. We'd like to see the Biltmore House and some of the other neat things in the mountain region. Cathy teaches her 4th graders about the state and all the cool things to do and see in NC, so it'll be great for her to see some of them first hand!

We have partial season tickets for the Durham Bulls. We had our first game of the season during Easter weekend (the Saturday before Easter Sunday) and we have our next game tomorrow night. It's a Sunday night game (which stinks for Steve), but it should be fun. We're really excited for the games when there are fireworks after. We have excellent seats too. They are right behind home-plate!

That's about it from us. We'll be trying to keep up with the "Post A Day in May" idea. We're already a day behind, but we'll see if we can do it. We're ready if you are!!

:)
The Walkers

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Update on life | 10:19 AM

We hope you all had a great Vaentine's Day! We went to Outback last night for dinner and they had a "Sweetheart Special" that included an appetizer, two salads, two 7oz filets with one side each, and two slices of cheesecake for dessert. This was all for $45. It was a SUPER deal considering that we always order the 7oz filets for dinner and the salad isn't included. Just the filets and salads come to $42. So we got the Bloomin' Onion and two slices of cheesecake for just $3 more!

Steve bought Cathy an iPhone for Valentine's Day. It's the coolest phone! She loves it and now Steve thinks he might want one too. If you haven't had a chance to ever see one or play with on-- you shouldn't try it unless you are prepared to buy one! You'll definitely want one once you play with it and see all that it can do. There are literally applications for EVERYTHING under the sun. Cathy got one for grocery shopping and we put our list on her iPhone. Very cool.

Cathy goes back to work this week. She's not looking forward to it, but Steve is. She has nine more weeks in her current classroom and then she has to move to another room (April 19th). Her Ecology Club is still going strong and she's been enjoying the time she spends with her kids.

There's not much more to report at this time. The Walker Blog is just about finished... so keep your eyes peeled for a link to view the completed site!!

:)
The Walkers

Update-- Where did January go??

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Where does the time go?? | 9:35 AM

Hello!! Honestly, where does the time go? We need to get better about coming up more often and posting an update. Sometimes it's hard because there's nothing new to report, but then a month and a half goes by and we're shocked at all that's happened that we haven't reported! :)

As of our last posting, it was two days before Christmas. We had such a wonderful holiday this year. We actually put up a tree, and Steve decorated the outside of the house (see the pictures in the above slide-show).

We went to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for Christmas this year. We had ham that E made, and then Cathy made the BEST au-gratin potatoes ever from scratch, and Steve made a mean mac-n-cheese from scratch. It was a very delicious dinner and then we went to view some Christmas lights. We got back to Elizabeth's house and we played a game... "Holly Springs Trivia"-- lol and we were awful. Who cares when HS became a city?? LOL.

Cathy had a party on December 30th and she invited some friends over to sing on the Wii (American Idol Encore and Encore2). They also played Guitar Hero World Tour-- but the tour ended abruptly because the fans just didn't appreciate their efforts. LOL.

Cathy's parents arrived the next day and we were so excited to see them! We gave them their Christmas gifts right away because Cathy couldn't wait. We gave them both a gas gift card to share (help pay for gas on their drive back north), and then we gave Cathy's mom a digital photo frame. Cathy spent three days adding pictures to the card so it'd be ready for her mom. He mom received three this year for Christmas... one from Bill, one from us, and one from Dave and his family. We think next year we should communicate about gifts. LOL. We gave Cathy's dad his annual gift card to REI (he loves that store) and then Steve gave him the DVD "Shine A Light" and then Cathy put together this really cute picture frame for him. It had a picture of Scott and Cathy when they were little in Washington DC, and then there was a picture of them together in November in DC, and individual pictures of them in DC this last November waving (it's their thing). Anyway, her dad REALLY enjoyed the picture and got a little teary-eyed. Cathy was really excited to see his reaction and to see that he really loved it.

We welcomed in the New Year and then went to bed soon after. While her parents were here they played Guitar Hero World Tour. Cathy and her dad set out on a mission to play every song and finish the tour and they did! It took them the whole visit to do so, but with Cathy on the lead guitar and Bill on the bass, they made their way (some songs they played OVER AND OVER AND OVER). It was fun to watch them having so much fun together. And let's not forget the fun they had singing together. LOL. We have some incriminating audio of them singing "Living on a Prayer" and we'd love to share sometime. HA HA HA.

So that was the beginning of January-- we had our first snow fall (see pictures at top) on the 20th. It was perfect timing because it also happened to be Inauguration Day. Cathy had a snow day (who would have thought there'd be a snow day here in NC?) and was able to watch the Inauguration here at home. She had a second snow day on Wednesday the 21st. Thursday the 22nd she had school, but it was a two-hour delay. She had to make up the missed day on the 20th by going to work on Saturday (yeah... Saturday school is no fun for anyone). It was not her favorite thing to do on a Saturday, but it was only a half day and she tracked out on the 27th so it wasn't too bad. She has to make up the other snow day on April 4th.

Right as Cathy tracked out, she came down with a severe sore throat. She went to the Minute Clinic and they did two strep tests and said they were negative. The nurse practitioner told Cathy to rinse with warm salt water and see a doctor if it got worse. She was in so much pain the rest of the day and the whole next day. She finally went to the doctor, they did a test for Mono and the flu and both were negative. The doctor gave her medication to knock out strep-- when Cathy got home, the nurse at the Minute Clinic had called-- her lab results had come back positive for strep. So she did have it! Steve started meds too just to make sure he didn't get it-- and after a few days she was better.

So that puts us into February. Cathy is tracked out (her favorite place to be) and working on the finishing touches of the new and improved Walker Website. As soon as it's done we'll let you know so you can check it out and bookmark it! It looks amazing-- we're sure you'll absolutely love it as much as we do!!

:)
We'll write again soon!

The Walkers