Not the weekend we had hoped for...

Well, our plans for this labor day weekend suddenly changed when S called on Friday afternoon. He'd been switched to a different jobsite and that site is working 12's. Sooo, he wouldn't be home at 3:45 like usual. It would be more like 7. And, they are working on Saturday and Sunday too. So yesterday was a very loooong day for me. Around 3:30, I was so tired of being home by myself. However, I WAS glad that we now have a doggie to keep me company. The only thing is, she is used to S getting home around 4 too, and she started pacing and "grunting" by the front door then until he came home! It was pretty funny. Every time she'd hear a diesel like noise her ears would prick up and she'd stand motionless listening. And then when it wasn't S's truck, she'd go back to grunting and pacing.

We were supposed to go up to E-town today (Sunday), to visit with the family, but now that won't be happening. S will be wiped out tomorrow, so we probably will just be around home relaxing.

In other news, we filled out a grant application for Shoahannah's Hope and just recieved our last recommendation that we need to send in with it. Receiving a grant would be a blessing!

We've also been speaking with our SW to be reevaluated for 3/4 siblings. It's taking a long time though, so it's easy to get frustrated. I think the most frustrating thing is that this past year and a half we've already been doing things to prepare for that number of kids. So to have to do it all over again, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just adds "emotionality" to the whole thing. Because of course we don't even know if she'll approve us. And at this point, short of actually getting a degree in social work, all the talking to families, a psychologist, and the multitude of books we've read has pretty well opened our eyes to what we could be "getting ourselves into". So as the attachement psychologist said, "There's no way to really prepare for this. Just be as knowledgeable as you can about the different issues that may come up."

I think the hardest thing now is that I second guess myself. It's as if by going through all this again, I sense doubt from others and then doubt myself. I mean it's things like, "Will I really be able to cook for that many kids?" and then I tell myself, "A, you never had a problem cooking for S's Bible study of 8-10 GUYS!" Or, will I really be able to get myself out of bed when the kids need me?" And then I say, "A, you get yourself out of bed even when S needs to go to work at 5 and wakes you up at 4:30!

We still trust the Lord for the family that He has for us. So if you would pray that we would stay strong in the Lord and be able to ignore the doubts that are thrown our way.

Back to school

Today was the first day of school. It was good to see the kids again, but it rained all day due to Tropical Storm Fay. So that put a damper on things...no outside recess. :(

USA Weightlifter visits Children's Hope foster home

Melanie Roach visited a foster home run by Children's Hope. I'm glad that the news station took the time to air that.

Saturday

Saturday turned out to be quite a fun day. I got some great deals, namely a paper cutter for $8. I've wanted one for so long, and passed one up a year ago at a yard sale. But this time, I didn't hesitate and just bought it. I don't know exactly how much they are new, but I know they're $$$.

We went canoeing again, but this time it was at night! We went with some people from church and it was a blast. Sean swung onto a branch again, but this time I had a really hard time getting the canoe back under the branch. The current was stronger, the branch was higher off the water, and there were logs in the river I had to get around. Sooooo, as Sean was dropping down into the canoe, I couldn't keep the boat balanced, and we fell in. It was fun. I haven't tipped a canoe in a long time....

Oh, and I almost forgot! This place told us we didn't have to wear our life vests, we just had to have them in the boat! So I didn't wear it!! :) Walkin' on the wild side! Oooh.

Last Day of Summer

Today is my last "real" full day of summertime. Next week I have to go in to my classroom and unpack and set it up.

So hmm, what to do on my last day? Well, I need to clean up the living room from the painting. It looks sooo much better now! Then I think I'm going to go yardsaling. (sp? that looks funny)

I love going to yard sales. Love love love it. When I was little, mom would search through the paper, mark the yard sales on a map, and figure out her route. Then she'd load us up in the car and we'd head out. Mostly I remember us buying clothes, and maybe the occasional toy. Now, can you believe that Mom used to be able to get a brown bag full of clothes for $1? Maybe it was $2, but even still. Now, you can't even buy a pair of jeans for $2 at lots of yard sales. (It is possible that I am completely disremembering the actual price of the bag, and that it was actually higher.)

Anyway, that began my love of yardsaling. One of my favorite things to do, is to take a pocketful of quarters. I'll find something for between .50 and $1, and then offer a quarter for it. It's fun to see how many things I can buy for 1 quarter!

Ok, I'm off to plan my route!

Yay for the Doctor!

I was worried about getting our medical letter notarized today. We had our appt, but couldn't get it notarized. I was going to ask the dr. to do it. Well evidently, the Doctor decided that having someone there in the office be a notary was a good idea! And they have a notary now!!! Yay!

That letter was the single most worrisome piece of paperwork out of all of it. And now, even if we have to have it done a 3rd time, I will not have to worry about it!

6 Days

I have 6 days of summer vacation left. In these 6 days I must transform the empty ugly family room into a livable family. It's slowly coming together, and I'm on the final stretch. I primed the brick wall yesterday, which took FOREVER, and today I'm going to paint it and prime the bay window. Maybe I'll even have time to repaint the bay window today too. Wouldn't that be nice! We also have our Dr. appt this afternoon to get our medical letter redone.

Jeeping... or canoeing?

Yesterday we went canoeing. I've wanted to go for a long time, and we realized there is a place really close by that rents canoes and you can go down the Big Darby Creek. So we did! We got there a little after it opened, around 9:45 or so, and were some of the first down the river. We passed a group, who seemed to like going down the river backwards, and after that only saw a few fishermen along the way. It was a 6 mile trip. It was supposed to take 2-4 hours. It took us under 2. I guess they assume more floating than paddling? It was gorgeous weather and we never even tipped, even though I wanted to!

But, we did see a strange sight. One silly man mistook his Jeep for a canoe. I guess no one's told him that Jeeps don't float! Hee hee.


Sean disappeared from the canoe onto an overhanging branch.
I should have taken off my lifevest for the picture, but if you know me, you know I always follow the rules...so I left it on in.

Notarizations...Check!

We took all our waiting docs to get notarized today! So now we only await the medical letters and employer letters. Then we can take them to the Clerk of Courts and then on to be apostilled! Yay!

I've been working on the photo pages and I think we're going to do a "photo shoot" this afternoon. We need more pictures of the 2 of us together.

Funny Story

In this month's newsletter from CHI, there was a book recommendation, Raising Nuestros Ninos. Well, I saw it and really wanted to read it. I immediately searched for it at the library and reserved it. Well today S and I went to the library and he went and got it off the reserve shelf for me while I was talking to a librarian. Well he comes back and is laughing and shaking his head at me! And then I realized what may have happened. It was the Spanish version. Oops! Well the library doesn't own an English version, so I had to order it off of Amazon. I just thought that was pretty funny. :) We know some Spanish, but not that much!

Like a wagon with square wheels

That's kind of what I feel like right now. We only have our medical letters and employer letters left along with finishing those annoying videos. (Which we haven't watched in a while because they're so painful to sit through. Oh why can't they turn it into a book??) And, I think we're close to having the dossier fee. The medical letter needs to be updated from last year and we have the appointment for that. The employer letters we'll get this next week when S goes back from vacation and i call my hr department. I guess I'm just feeling the crunch now that it's August and school will be starting at the end. We really hope we can have all the docs apostilled before I go back.

We got our 2nd set of FBI prints back yesterday; they only took 2 weeks from sending to receiving! I thought that was pretty good. And, they didn't have a problem with S's prints! We were concerned because the ridges on 2 of his fingers were completely missing, but I guess they thought it was fine.

So why do I feel like a wagon with square wheels? Because we are moving forward, but have to work seemingly so hard for each little turn. And because it's been so many months that we just want to have our children home.