The DeMoss Family

Back on Track (One Year Later)

2011-12-06T22:43:00.001-06:00

Finally, we have our immigration papers updated. Last time I posted (I know, it's been awhile), I was about to head back to Nashville for yet another set of fingerprints. Good or bad, USCIS only makes you re-do them once. So if they were bad again, it really didn't matter.

Since then, we went back for the fingerprints, got our I-797C (immigration approval), printed off another document saying that the I-797C is "True and Accurate", had that notarized, and had the notarization certified. Today, we made the trip back to Nashville to have the certification of the notarization apostilled by the secretary of state. Are you following? The US government issued the I-797C themselves; you'd think that would be official enough. Oh well, I'm learning to just jump through the hoops.

Tomorrow, I make sure I have scanned all parts of this document before mailing it to our agency so they can send it to Bulgaria. Then I will email scanned copies to both of our agencies, and begin focusing again on fundraising. Has anyone done any fundraising near Christmas? My gut instinct is that it is a bad time of year to ask for donations. After all everyone else is also asking, and there are Christmas presents to buy, etc. I know folks are supposed to feel more giving at this time, but still.

I guess this all means we are back on track -- through with updating and back to waiting. By the way, today marks the 1 year anniversary of our being officially registered in Bulgaria. Maybe we are getting close to a referral. At least we are a year closer! LOL My thoughts bounce around from being excited to feeling not ready; I'm scared to go, but I want the process behind me.

Just in case I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season.

Enjoy your family.
Don't rush through the holidays.
Make memories.
Start a new tradition.
Focus more on others than on yourself.
Remember it truly is better to give than to receive.
And remember that it isn't about the gifts we exchange but about the Gift we were given over 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ was born. (If you don't know Him personally, accept His gift this year above all others.)

I Stand Corrected

2011-10-18T00:02:00.001-05:00

I stand corrected. Apparently, the fingerprints did NOT go well. I got a letter today from USCIS that they were unable to read my prints, and I will have to do it again. Really? Are you kidding me? The computer said "accepted" or "rejected" as we took each print. What is the point of doing them until they all say "accepted" while I'm standing there, if they are only going to wait two weeks and make me go back?

The lady and computer in Nashville thought they were fine....

Why can't you use the ones taken locally in July for our home study? I believe they went to the SAME place.

Why can't you use the ones you took 18 months ago? They don't REALLY expire, you know. Fingerprints are fingerprints!

I bet there are people in prison who have not been fingerprinted as many times as I have. Next week will make #8.

(Deep breath. Let it out...) : o

Lord, what do you want to teach me? This has not been an easy process...I didn't expect it to be. But I wasn't expecting blatant aggravation--feels almost like harassment at times. Through Your strength, we WILL persevere. We will not give up on our girls. Please show Yourself in this process--despite the process. May You receive all the glory and honor for completing this adoption. For we cannot do this alone but through YOUR power and YOUR provision. We are Your instruments...Your vessels. May we truly be Your hands and feet. Bless our family -- bless those who help us along the way. Amen.

USCIS, Olive Tree, Curves, School

2011-10-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

I actually started a post a couple of weeks ago, but I see I never got it finished...much less posted. So let's just start fresh. (HA! This post got put aside too! But I'm just going to finish it as is...)

I made my first sale on Olive Tree -- sent one of my bracelets to Michigan. That was cool. Then we were named the Featured Family, which meant we would get a very small cut of any purchase that supported anyone. THEN we got word that someone we didn't even know had placed a sizable order naming us as the family to support. That was extra cool! I'm now trying to make some baby blankets to see if I can sell those on Olive Tree. (Just today we made two more sales. Don't recognize their names and don't know what they ordered, but they supported us. THANK YOU!)

We did get our second application submitted for immigration. The appointments came and were set for Oct 20. Yeah...not gonna wait that long. We were in Nashville for a couple of doctor's appointments on Oct 4, so we just dropped by and had our fingerprints done. By the way, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you will remember what a TERRIBLE time I had last year with my ink prints (for the FBI clearance letter). 33 WEEKS!! Three trips to the police department! Paid twice! Well, that was ink.. But I also had trouble with the electronic prints. At least with electronic prints you know right away to try again. When we updated our home study this summer, I dreaded the two fingerprintings...even though they were both electronic. At the first, the man started out having trouble with me. He finally stopped and handed me some Corn Huskers Lotion. After that, we got the prints! So, just as we were leaving for Nashville this week, I remembered to check. We had some! I put some on just before going in the fingerprinting place. It worked! She barely had to redo any of my prints. I don't know if that would work with ink prints, but I do remember that I am supposed to ask for Officer Cross if/when I have to do ink prints again.

In other news, I have not made it back to Curves since school started. It's just been SO busy! I keep hoping that I can work it back in (especially since I'm still paying for it). In the meantime, though, I finally starting losing!! Yay me! I've been trying to get this weight off since Eli was born (6 years ago) and was slowly losing until maybe 2 or 3 years ago when my weight suddenly jumped up and then kept creeping up gradually and consistently. Five months with Curves had not done anything really, but I did use their philosophy to start my own program at home, and I've now officially lost 11 pounds. I know that's not phenomenal, but it is a huge answer to prayer for me. It's been maybe 6 or 7 weeks, and I've gone up and down, but overall I've gone down. Whenever I notice the weight starting to climb back up, I take a couple of days "off" and eat whatever I want -- not binge eating, just not putting a lot of thought into it. Then I jump back in, and it starts slowly falling again.

Back to school talk, we are doing well. I actually bought desks for the boys and have them in the living room..I know it may sound dumb to some, but I'm really liking it, and the boys think they are neat. It does let me tend to both of them at the same time, getting one started on something and then tending to the other without having to leave the room. Did you know that if you leave a first or fourth grader alone with their work, they very often stopping working??? This keeps our day moving forward a lot better. Sometimes I catch myself standing and pacing between them just like when I was in the classroom. Now all I need is a whiteboard on one wall, and our living room will be complete. ; ) Seriously, I think it keeps us from getting too relaxed and informal.

For those of you who may homeschool, I'm also trying a new approach with Colton (4th grade) that kind of goes against my "teacherness". Instead of doing a lesson in each subject every day, we are attacking a subject a week at a time. For example, we may do a week's worth of grammar and reading on Monday and a week's worth of math on Tuesday, etc. He seems to respond well to having the subject over with, and he thinks he has less if he only does 1 or 2 subjects -- even though the number of lessons is the same. My only exception to the all-at-once method is when there is a test. I don't want him to study 4 math lessons and immediately close the book and take the test. Maybe that is fine, but it just feels like short-term memory only to me. So if there is a test this week, we plan 2 days -- one for everything leading up to the test, and one for the test and anything scheduled after it. So far this is working for us. He is staying caught up better and seems to still be comprehending everything as we go.

Olive Tree Promise

2011-09-03T14:18:00.001-05:00

I wanted to tell EVERYONE about a website that is designed to help families who are adopting. Whether you are an adopting family or someone who is trying to support an adopting family, you need to know about this site. It's called Olive Tree Promise (OTP), and you can click on it on the right side of my blog.

I'll explain, but let me define a few terms first. (Hang with me. I may get wordy!)

Vendor - the person selling an item
Buyer - the person buying an item
Family - the family fundraising for an adoption
Cost - the amount the vendor receives
Retail - the amount the buyer pays
Family Cut - the amount left over between the cost and the retail prices

Example (I'm making up these prices!)
1. A Vendor lists a t-shirt for sale. He sets the cost at $7. Then he sets the retail price at $12. The vendor has already included a little for shipping in the cost. That way shipping is included for the buyer. The difference is the Family Cut (12-7= $5).
2. Next, a buyer comes to the website. They see the t-shirt and put it in their cart.
3. During checkout, they are asked to choose a family. They can pick the family who told them they were on here, or they can pick someone at random. (You can even browse the families by country and read their profiles. Remember, we are Bulgaria!) The buyer pays $12 for the t-shirt and receives it later in the mail.
4. OTP processes the payment (usually sending out checks once a month). They send $7 to the vendor and $5 to the family.
5. The vendor receives his $7. Out of this he pays for shipping and his cost for making/buying the product. Then he ships the t-shirt directly to the buyer.
6. The family receives a check for $5 and deposits it into their adoption fund.

It doesn't get much easier than that!!

Now, here's the icing on the cake. Listen up, you adoptive families! If you have something you have created to sell as your own fundraiser, sell it here! I designed and made bracelets to sell for our adoption. Sales went fine for a while but have now slowed down a lot. After I registered with OTP as a family, I registered again as a vendor. Then I began adding new products. I listed my bracelets as well as some large and small American flag magnets. (We had a ton of these magnets donated to us.) So, let's pretend for a moment that I am selling that t-shirt up above for $12.

Scenario 1) Someone buys the t-shirt AND chooses our family. I get $7 for being the vendor and $5 for being the family. I get the whole $12 (minus shipping and my original investment in the t-shirt).

Scenario 2) Someone buys the t-shirt I am selling but supports a different family. Now, I get the $7 as the vendor, and the other family gets the $5. I'm cool with that because I might not have sold the t-shirt at all on my own. If your friends buy it while supporting you, at least I get a little something out of it for MY adoption. And I get to help you too!

Scenario 3) Someone buys a CD (that I am not selling), but they DO choose my family to support. I still get the Family Cut for this product even though it's not mine! So ordering ANY product while supporting us will help us raise funds for our adoption.

Right now there are only a few families and a few products. But they have t-shirts, CDs, necklaces, burp cloths, and more. You can even purchase a Donation like baby formula for Ethiopia or mosquito nets for Zambia. Of course, you can ALWAYS just buy up my bracelets and magnets, though! (Is it too early to push these a great Christmas gifts? Well, they are!)

So, go to Olive Tree Promise if you want to support us, if you are fundraising for your own adoption, or if could list items for sell and give a portion of the proceeds to an adopting family.

By the way, I'm always open to other ideas of something I could make and sell on here. I would love to continue selling things here for other families even after our adoption is completed.

(Whew! I hope that made sense...)

Time's Up!!

2011-09-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

Remember when I said we were rushing around trying to get our immigration clearance updated? Well, I rushed as much as I could, but I couldn't control others and whether they felt our sense of urgency. I also couldn't turn back the clock and start sooner. We didn't make it. On my last post, I mentioned making a couple of changes on our home study and the fact that those changes would cost us $360 to renew our application rather than the $0 for no changes. Remember that? Well, since we missed the deadline, we now have to re-file from scratch and pay the $890 for a first time filing. Don't you just love bureaucracy? Why must they make this difficult!

At first I wanted to throw my hands in the air: We're having a hard enough time raising the money with out throwing away part of it. Why do I keep messing everything up!? Are You trying to tell us to quit?

Then I looked for someone to blame: I know I was supposed to keep up with expiration dates...and I was! It was far off to me. Doesn't everyone know I've never done this before and could use a little guidance??

I worried about how much we might be set back: We're out extra money...Will the MOJ throw us out of line and cost us our registration date which is now almost 9 months old? Will they deem us unfit parents if we don't care enough to keep everything up-to-date?

Then I thought about why I had hesitated to make the changes in gender and age. It was partly because I did NOT want to make the trip again into downtown Nashville to have the changes apostilled. 1) Find someone to keep the kids because they are not allowed in the building. 2) Find someone to go with me to help me watch for the right exit while I'm watching 4 or 5 lanes of same-direction traffic (not used to that). 3) Drive around endlessly looking for one of the few coveted parking places within a block of the place. 4) Go to the umpteenth floor where I can barely look out the window from across the waiting area because the height makes me dizzy. 5) Find my way out of there because you can't leave the way you came for all the one-way streets.

I know. That entire paragraph is pretty lame. I didn't mind it too much the first time around. It was one of those "necessary evils" to be endured. And at least I had 30-something papers to have apostilled. I did NOT want to make the trip for just one or two papers and just for a couple of wording changes.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that having to redo our USCIS application was certainly NOT optional like our change in parameters. Now, we HAD to go back to Nashville. May as well make those other changes and get those papers apostilled while we are there. Perhaps this is God's way of making sure we make those changes. Perhaps our daughters are not in the age range we originally set. Perhaps he DOES want to us to adopt boys instead. OR perhaps he just wants us to prove that we are willing. I mean look at Abraham and his almost-sacrifice of Isaac. God was looking at his willingness to obey, not that he went through with the original plan. Can you imagine Abraham arguing and saying, "No, Lord, I have to do this thing. You SAID...." Perhaps we will make these changes and still end up adopting girls in the original age range...no changes needed. Now that I think about it, I can also see now that we are making the changes for free after all. It's the reapplication we are paying for, not the changes. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

One bright spot...our registration with the MOJ is still valid because our USCIS papers were valid when we registered. Now, I'm sure they wouldn't leave it that way indefinitely, but maybe this won't turn into a problem. I have the new application and check in the mail. Pray that it will go through quickly and smoothly.

Update Complete

2011-08-24T08:02:00.004-05:00

Summer is over. School is back in session. I am thankful for being back in a routine, but I catch myself often seeing something I need to do and thinking, "I'll do that this summer when I have more time." Then I realize summer just ended and it will be quite a while until the next one. Oh well.

Let's start with the adoption. We have done our home study update, and we changed two things. First we re-worded the age. When we started, we had said we wanted the girls to be between the ages of 2 and 7. Well, at that time our boys were 4 and 7, so that put them all about the same age. Now the boys are 6 and 9, so we felt we could stretch the age a little bit. But how much? That was the question. So we decided to try something perhaps a little unusual and set a date that they needed to be born after. We just picked a date 6 months younger than Colton and said that they should be born after this date. The other thing we tweaked was to say we are open to either gender. I still lean more toward girls at this time, but I have seen some awfully cute little boys' pictures go by as well, and we often hear that there are more boys available than girls. We figured it is better to make these changes now than to fall in love with two little guys and have to rush around making those changes later.

Of course, those two little changes in the homestudy means that renewing our USCIS forms will cost $360 instead of being free. While that seems like a lot of money to us, in the scope of the cost of the entire adoption, it is nothing...and it will bring us one step closer to the children God has intended for us.

We were not able to have as many yard sales this summer as we had hoped. We have now had 28 yard sales total and might get a few more in before we pack up for winter. I had thought we might at least make it to 30, but right now I feel like someone who has eaten the entire Thanksgiving meal alone and just can't choke down those last two bites. We went to an adoption support group meeting this week and listened to an adoptive mom talk about different fundraising options. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw how many of her ideas we had already tried. I've said it before...we have two big obstacles in fundraising--no, three. 1) We aren't in jobs or large circles of people where we can promote our fundraisers. 2) Neither one of us are "salesmen". I don't think I could give away water during a drought! 3) We don't have rich friends or long-lost relatives; they are pretty much the same as us. I do have a few ideas for things we've not done thus far, but I really need to get back on the trail of grants. (Please pray for me to find the time to get these applications completed!)

In other news, school has been back in session for a while. We are in week 4 now. Colton is in 4th grade and doing more of his work on his own. Eli has stepped up his game with 1st grade...much more to do than in kindergarten. Colton just completed Level 3 swimming lessons and will be belt testing again later this week for taekwondo. This will be belt #8 (red); 3 more until black. Eli is trying out PE class. I thought he would be so excited to participate after being on the sidelines for 3 years, but he was very afraid of being in the class. I'm praying we can get this obstacle behind us before he faces another new situation. Like I told him, life is full of changes and new situations, and he just has to learn to deal with them.

Couponing did NOT work out for me. On the one hand, I think I overdid it. I worked WAY too much on it and overspent every month. I'm done. Kudos to those of you who save hundreds each month! The first month we quit, we came very close to budget--but that month included a lot of eating out on the road for vacation! The second month we came in under budget for the first time in over a year. That reminds me. I failed to mention that we also quit playing the "Rewards" game on the credit card. We had started buying groceries and such on the credit card to earn the rewards. We DID earn them, but overspent each month more than the value of the rewards. When I gave up couponing, I also went back to the envelope system and came in under budget. I think I'll stay here for a while.

Curves has gotten majorly interrupted. Trips during the summer, 2 weeks of intense planning before school started, chaos of the first week of school, and weeks 2 and 3 spent babysitting and going to swimming lessons...all of these have kept me from going to Curves. I even have a doctor's appointment today about my wrist. Remember the ganglion cyst I had removed last year? It's ba-aack! When that hurts, I can't push on the weight machines anyway. I'm trying to my own program here at home with protein drinks/snacks, portion control, and Wii Fit Plus. We'll see the results when I go back.

From Nothing to Urgent

2011-07-11T09:37:00.003-05:00

Perhaps it is common in adoption to swing between periods of whirlwind paperwork to endless waiting and back again...with little to nothing in between. We spent all of last year running here and there trying to get all of the necessary paperwork together and made official. When it was done, we sat. All you could feel and hear was the sound of crickets in the dark. Nothing happened. There was nothing to do. There really wasn't anymore back and forth communication with the agency. Nothing. Nothing but silence. Now, all of a sudden, we are in a whirlwind again. How did I miss that we need to begin updating our immigration paperwork 3-4 months before it expired. After all, it is good for 15 (or maybe 18) months, and we were just registered in December. It FEELS like we shouldn't have anything to do this year but wait. On the contrary, the immigration papers were dated early 2010, so they expire in August 2011. Grrr!! So now we are rushing around trying to get our home study updated so we can refile with USCIS. We all have to have new medicals, 2 sets of fingerprints, another home visit, and lots of new paperwork that wasn't there when we did it the first time. Well, at least it gives me an adoption update to give you. ; )

I also promised to check in about Curves and couponing. Please don't let me discourage you from either of these activities. If you are the type of person who is easily discouraged, please stop reading now. But for the rest of you, I AM trying to be real here. I went to Curves at the end of June for my "weigh in". I just got my printed results back today because we have been out of town. The good news is that I have lost 16 inches. The bad news is that I can't tell it. My clothes still fit the same as always. The other bad news is that I had gained 1.6 lbs. Yay me! : (

As for the couponing, I guess I'm just not cut out for it. I DID find some great deals, and sometimes it was fun. I did NOT get into stockpiling (much less hoarding), but for two months straight I went overbudget by at least $100. I canNOT keep that pace! So for June, we went back to cash and envelopes (yes, the Dave Ramsey way). Keep in mind that June included our vacation. Lots of eating out on the road plus our traditional eating out once at our destination and once for ice cream. Even with all of that included, I only went overbudget by about $40. Much better. I can't wait to see how July will fare.

We were going to move forward with another yard sale this past Saturday, but we got back from Crossville later than expected and weren't quite ready. (We make an annual trip there around the 4th to visit Tim's sister and her family.) For one thing we needed more bottled water to sell in this heat. For another, we had another of our signs stolen, and we need to replace that. Makes you wonder why someone would "need" a yard sale sign that says Adoption Benefit and has our house address on it. But that makes 2 that have been stolen. Go figure.

Summer Started & Yard Sale 24

2011-06-25T12:38:00.006-05:00

Summer is finally underway. We took the boys to Florida as soon as Tim got out of school. We went to Sanibel Island and had a ball! We saw so much wildlife and so many shells...some still inhabited! It was especially meaningful since Colton studied water creatures this past year in science. We saw dolphins almost every time we went to the beach. We saw fish jumping out of the water. Eli spotted an aligator on a bike ride with Tim. Tim and I saw a manatee swim by us, and Tim even saw a small shark before we were out of the water! Eli wasn't left out, though. He'll be studying flying creatures next year. We had a nest of ospreys right outside our condo. We realized the first day that the two "babies" in the nest (they were full grown in size) were stretching their wings and about to fly for the first time, and we were watching when they did. By the end of the week, they would fly out for pretty good distances before returning. We saw several types of birds that are common to us.

After vacation, the boys began swimming lessons. They were in the same class which covered levels 1 and 2 of the Red Cross levels. Eli finished with level 1 completed and a few skills of level 2. Colton finished all the way through level 2 and has signed up for level 3 in August! He also completed another belt testing in taekwondo and has now earned his blue black stripe belt (or 4th degree blue belt).

This past week, as we finished swimming lessons, we also had VBS week at church. The kids had a blast! Attendance seemed a little down this year, but the kids that came all seemed to really enjoy it. And there were quite a few visitors with us all week, so that was great!

We have been trying to start yard sale season since May. We've had weather issues (including the tornado at the end of April), end of school conflicts, out of town trips, etc. And I'll be honest, I've had a hard time getting motivated. I was not looking forward to the 1st yard sale. Gearing up for the 24th was no easier. Finally today was the day! We had everything ready. We got up early even after a week of late VBS nights. We opened at 7:30AM and closed at 10AM due to sprinkles and thunder. Normally we wouldn't panic over sprinkles, but the radar showed more rain and a small storm heading our way. We threw it all back in the garage and headed inside. Because of the impending storm, we decided we really didn't have time to pull it all back out only to rush around packing up again in a little while. So, we called it quits for the day. I hated that! I was finally mentally prepared for having a sale today. We had already had a very productive 2.5 hours. If we had kept going at the same pace, we would have been well over our average for a day's sale. What's worse is here I sit at 1:00 (just 1 hour shy of our usual closing time), and we've had MAYBE one more round of sprinkles. Apparently, the storm disapated or rerouted before it got here. Grrrr! Now I really feel like we wasted the day. Well, we'll just try again next weekend, and this time it will probably be Friday AND Saturday.

Oh, I just noticed my last posted included pics of the storm damage. We now have the roof repaired and new roofing on the front half of the house. The trees are cleaned up, and we are waiting for parts for the fence. Next, we still need to replace the trampoline and do a minor repair and repainting in the girls' room that leaked that day because of the tree damage. One other projected this summer is to at least get on the installation list for a storm shelter. Then we will be ready for the next tornado season.

I don't really have a couponing or Curves update today. I probably will in another week, but I hated to put off posting AGAIN.

Hope your summer is a great one!! I'll leave you with some of our vacation pictures.

What a Month

2011-05-07T22:18:00.006-05:00

I'm still working on posting more often. One topic at a time is probably better. But with that said...what a month April was!

Picking up from my last post, we still do not have anything new with the adoption. Everyone has now had a birthday. Colton has achieved another belt in taekwondo. He is now a blue belt.

CURVES: I'm still going to Curves, but I haven't been able to make my 3 visits per week for the last couple of weeks. I just had a "weigh-in". Since February I've lost almost 20 inches and a whopping 1.6 pounds. Okay, not earth shattering, but I'm still trying. I know I need to do a better job with my eating, for one thing, and get back to definitely doing 3 days a week.

COUPONING: I was SOOOO excited about this, but apparently I am a little...um...OCD about it. (Not sure that's the right label.) I have been putting WAY too much time into it. In my last post, I had hit February pretty close to average on spending. March was $100 more!! I was in shock. Toward the end of April, I was putting blogging on hold hoping to report a huge savings. Nope! I still went over--not as badly as in March, but still over. I'm feeling quite discouraged on this. Don't know exactly where I'm going from here.

APRIL 27: This was quite a day. I went to bed about 1:00AM because I had been monitoring the weather and letting Tim sleep since he had to get up early. By 5:30 or so, I was awake again watching the morning run of storms. I'm not sure what time we decided to get the kids up, but as we were getting in the closet at about 5:55AM, the noise made me think our house was about to start coming apart. When we came out we found two trees on our house and three down in the back yard. We later learned that we had been hit by an EF0 tornado. As you'll see in the pictures, the damage is not as bad as two trees could have done. And we fared WAY better than the folks in Alabama that day. We are still waiting to be visited by the insurance adjuster (on Monday), and then we should be ready to give the green light to our contractor to start fixing everything.

Finally, this wasn't technically in April, but we now have a new kindergarten graduate in our house! Eli and 6 others had their graduation ceremony last Friday night. It was very sweet. The moms and kids filed in to "Pomp and Circumstance". After a welcome, we showed the slide show I had put together of each of the kids. With only 7 grads, we could afford the time to have several pics of each one. Next, the performances. Eli was one of only 3 who did something. He recited the three pledges we have been working on: to the flag, to the Christian flag, and to the Bible. After this, the kids were seated on the stage, and each mom came up and presented their child with their diploma. Finally, we all filed back out and began to make our way to the pavillion for a pizza picnic. As we left, Eli said it was the "funnest picnic EVER!" He made some new friends, which was an answer to prayer. I'm convinced that each year should begin with a special get-together (or 2) for just the kindergarteners. They need a chance to get to know other kids early on so they can look for their friends at field trips and other such gatherings. Here are a few pics of our celebraton...

Just Living Life

2011-03-20T15:57:00.002-05:00

I'm astounded that it has been 3 months since I updated. Nothing new is going on with the adoption. It feels more like we quit. The weather has taken a turn for the gorgeous (off and on), and while it has been great, there is also a sense of dread in my stomach. The pretty weather means it's time to start hauling the yard sale stuff out. I'm sorry if I've said it before, but I am tired of yard sales. That's just the harsh truth. I'm not doing these for fun. I'm doing them for my girls. You know, we give up a lot of comfort to have a biological child. (Yes, I still remember being VERY uncomfortable at times while pregnant.) So, I guess this is some of my discomfort for my next two children. It just gets tough not knowing when this "pregnancy" will end.

So, as far as the adoption goes, get ready for me to start blogging about our fundraisers. You've been warned! ; )

Now, an update on the fam. First of all, we are halfway through birthday season. Eli turned 6 in February. He is getting SO big. Okay, more like "big for his britches". He still weighs next to nothing. But he eats better most of the time and has TONS of energy, so I'm not worrying about that. We kept it fairly simple and had a Wii party with a few friends followed by cake and ice cream. Pretty basic. The weather cooperated and was pretty. The kids gradually found the backyard, and the trampoline was a big hit. The nice thing about February is that the flies are not out yet, so we just left the backdoor open so we could supervise kids both in and out. On the actual day of his birthday we took him to Chili's and Baskin Robbins. He was tickled with that.

Yesterday was my birthday. We didn't do much. Tim and I will go out to eat later this week since he is on spring break. It was a reminder, though, that I'm getting older with no known end to the adoption. I want my girls home. I'm not very good with floating through times of limbo.

Next month we tackle Colton's 9th birthday. He is so ready to lose the booster seat. He has reached the point where it is almost insulting to be in it. He is about an inch shy of the legal minimum for losing it now. I wonder who came up the the 4'9" rule. He looks too big for his booster now.

Just so he was mentioned...Tim's birthday finishes us off in May.

School is going well. Colton is keeping us busy with Taekwondo. We are now going twice a week instead of just once. He recently earned his fifth belt (I think they called it 4th degree green). We are also still doing PE once a week and have started staying afterward for an hour of swimming. Swimming lessons are in the plans for both boys this summer. Eli has been very concerned that he doesn't know how to swim.

I have 3 new activities. First I joined Curves in February. I have GOT to lose some of this weight. Maybe that will help with settling my heartbeat down (recently identified PACs and tachycardia). I'm also hoping that will help with my new enemy reflux. Besides, I need to manage stress, fit in older clothes, and just feel better. I haven't really lost any pounds, but my first check-in (at the beginning of March) showed a few lost inches. I'll take that for now.

Second, I am trying to be a couponer. I'm working on organinzing and trying to figure out everyone's couponing policies. I'm pretty pumped about this. My first grocery trip was to Publix. I had never shopped there because I perceived them as expensive. On my first trip, the receipt said I saved $64. I didn't really get excited since this was compared to the expensive Publix prices. I compared those same items to Wal-Mart and found I had saved $34. I still wasn't satisfied, though, since I usually buy store brands instead of name brands. So, I checked those items, and I still saved $20 over the cheapest way I knew how to shop. I was hooked...at least to keep trying and to keep improving. That was February. At the end of the month, we didn't have a big savings (about $4 under our average), but we had a lot more food in the house. This month I'm working on adding the drugstores to my couponing plan. So far so good, but I haven't done much yet.

Finally, I started giving piano lessons in March. I probably should have done this a long time ago for the adoption fund, but then again I've just now found a semblance of balance in homeschooling two instead of one. I started teaching now because Colton got braces at the end of January. (He's so cute with them!) Those brought a not-so-friendly monthly payment with them. I currently have two students (besides my boys). I had others interested, so maybe they will be ready to sign up soon.

Let me close with one last thing. I wish I had more time to read and could regularly recommend books to you. I've recently read a book, though, that I would encourage you to read as soon as you can find a copy. Heaven Is for Real is the story of a young child (almost four) who visited Heaven during a serious illness. The doctors never said he died and was brought back, so I'll just say "he visited". I just do not believe that a child of his age could make up the stories that he told. One of the most compelling examples was when he suddenly mentioned to his mom one day that he had two sisters. She said that he just had the one and maybe he was thinking of his cousin. He said no. There was a girl in Heaven who kept hugging him ("yuck" to him) and said she was his sister. She said she had died in Mommy's tummy. The mom had never told him that she had had a miscarriage between his living sister and him. This child also described Heaven in a way that matched Scriptures that he was too young to have heard, much less understood. Things in the book of Revelation, for example. It's a relatively short book (a little over 200 pages), so you simply must find it and read it.

I'm going to try to update more often. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin fundraising again. We still need to raise about $10K so we can accept a referral. We are also still waiting to hear from one grant, and I need to start applying for others.

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

2011-01-16T14:46:00.004-06:00

This post has been a long time coming. Some days I've been too busy to blog; some days I just didn't feel like it. It seems I have way too much to say one minute but can't think of it the next. Let's start with a look back at the crazy year called 2010.

As the year began, we were in the middle of our home study (having applied in November 2009). I had my physical for that in January. Ironically, I was almost not a current patient of my doctor because it had been so long since I had been there. I just don't ever go. No serious issues, and I don't go for colds and such. Within about a week of that visit, I started having heart palpitations. It completely scared me. Not just because it was my heart, but honestly I was afraid it would jeopardize all the work we had done on the adoption. So far I've had an ultrasound of my heart, a nuclear stress test, and two emergency room visits with one overnight stay. I even spent Christmas and New Year's wearing a heart monitor. So far, they have not found anything wrong. Several people around me think it is purely stress. What stress? We're just your typical family of four living month to month on a teacher's salary in a very small house. Sure, we're trying to spend about $36,000 we don't have to bring home two girls from Bulgaria, but what's stressful about that? I'm not sure how two more kids fit into the budget or the house, but still... My husband is completely stressed with teaching, but that doesn't affect me, right? My boys are perfectly behaved angels who keep their room clean and do their school work without complaint, right? Honestly, when doctors have asked me if I have any stress, I want to say, "I breathe, don't I?" I mean is there a person on the face of the earth who is actively living life who doesn't have stress?

Okay (deep breath), I'm starting to rant and rave now. Back to blogging. Bottom line, it has been a stressful year made worse by wondering why my heart is working weird. Plus it would leave me really tired at times so I couldn't do anything. Now, I got the monitor off a week ago, and I don't think my heart has done anything strange since then. Go figure. You've heard of a 24 hr virus? It's as if I have had a 1 yr heart palpitation bug. PRAYER REQUEST: As soon as the cardiologist clears me from this monitoring period, I am going to join Curves. I REALLY need to lose some weight, and I know it will help the stress, too. Pray that she does give me the green light to move forward with this.

We started yard sales again in the spring and ended the year with a total of 23 sales since we started fundraising back in the fall of 2007. While I am very appreciative of the money we raise doing yard sales, I just wish I was a "yard sale-er". Personally, I hate yard sales. But sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Just this week, we finally got all of the yard sale clothing put away. It seems almost pointless since we'll be getting it all back out in 2-3 months. But hey, I feel like we did something toward cleaning the house.

Summer started with vacation!! The kids had so much fun. I'm thankful that my memories of the trip are generally positive because I remember a few times that my heart was racing, and I was so afraid that I would have to go to the hospital in a strange place with no one to keep my kids. Fifteen states in thirteen days...no stress! Seriously, the boys are very good with travel and enjoy it as much as their dad.

Late summer, Tim had knee surgery for torn cartilage. Next I had a sleep study to see if I had sleep apnea. I had hoped this would solve the heart mystery. I did have mild sleep apnea, which would explain the exhaustion in the mornings, but it didn't seem enough to cause the palpitations. In October I had wrist surgery for a ganglion cyst. Four weeks later, I had nose surgery to straighten a severely deviated septum (that happens when a ceiling fan falls in your face!) and to take care of some minor sinus issues. We also hoped this would help with the sleep apnea. The last measure taken for the sleep apnea was to get fitted for an oral appliance to sleep in. Never thought I'd be sitting in the orthodontist's chair again! Not to be outdone, Tim also had a sleep study done. He, of course, was much worse than I. He is currently adjusting to his CPAP machine. And since I had had two surgeries and he only one, he had to have gum surgery during Christmas break.

I am so tired of keeping track of doctor's appointments. There were some weeks when I would have 3 in the same week. I really feel for someone dealing with a catastrophic disease. I feel my situation is SO not serious by comparison, but it is tiring just the same.

On the adoption front, we finished our home study and our dossier, even though you may recall it took 32 weeks or so to get my fingerprints approved by the FBI. We were officially registered with the MOJ on December 6. YEA!!! One milestone reached. Now we just wait, right? NOT! If we were to miraculously get a referral soon (and everyone hopes to be the exception), we don't have the money to back up a "yes" response. I did apply for two different grants. One has already denied us. The other keeps postponing us month to month. That's better than being turned down, though! OBVIOUS PRAYER REQUEST: Effective fundraisers and additional income. I would so love to be able to add to our income while not compromising our homeschooling. Any ideas that don't involve salesmanship? I'm trying to turn into a couponing mom, but so far it hasn't worked.

Finally, just a couple of hours after I finished my last post, we got the call that Tim's grandmother had passed away...91 years and 1 week old. We were thrown into the whirlwind of planning arrangements for the funeral in Kentucky. We had a lot of counseling to do with the kids helping them deal with it and then had to face Thanksgiving and Christmas without her. All in all, the holidays went very well. The kids readily understood that Granny was a Christian and therefore in Heaven with Jesus. She had gone downhill fast in the last month or two, so it was comforting to know she was completely healed and happy...and that we would see her again. Colton became a Christian in 2008. Eli prayed to accept Christ about a week or two after Granny died. Thank you, Jesus!

This brings me to the Looking Ahead part of this post. On the health note, I already mentioned joining Curves soon. I'd also like to go in for allergy testing. Long story, but my dad had lots of unusual allergies to foods and chemicals. While being tested at an allergy hospital, he had an apple, and it made his fingernails turn blue and his heart rate dropped. So I don't discount the notion that my heart palpitations could be an allergic reaction. Dad didn't have allergies until he was an adult. I guess they have to start sometime. On fundraising, I guess we will continue offering the ones we have already done. We will definitely be having yard sales. I'll also start working again on more grant applications. I did finish my medical transcription course last year, but that looks like one more way I misspent money. I hate when that happens, and I think, "That could have gone into the adoption fund!" I know we will need to start soon updating paper work. Both of our medical letters have expired by now as well as Tim's fingerprints. I'm a little scared to start the fingerprinting again. I don't want to spend all year on it.

For the kids, Colton is moving right along with his taekwondo. He just earned his green belt in December. Both boys took piano lessons away from home during the fall semester. For money's sake, I've talked them into letting me teach them. Colton is being much more cooperative this time around. Eli has never had lessons with me and is complaining a lot so far. Eli also talked us finally into getting him a guitar for Christmas. Now I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of paying for lessons...is he ready?...and trying to teach myself and in turn teach him. There may be a full-sized guitar on my birthday wishlist. (His is a half size.)

Well, if you have stuck with me through this long post, I've taken up enough of your day. I hope to blog more often in shorter installments. We'll see...

Much Going On

2010-11-04T15:36:00.002-05:00

To catch you up, we did get my FBI letter and a few other documents all made official and sent off. Because they dragged in late, our dossier is still in the registration process. But, any day now...

I recently had to have wrist surgery (ganglion cyst), so I've not really been up to blogging. I also think our yard sale season is going to have to close for the year. I thought we would make it to a grand total of 25 (for the entire adoption process), but it looks like we have stalled at 23. I'm sure there will be more next year. (Yay?) Now I have to find a place to store everything until next year. We really want our garage back!

School is going well...okay, most days are good days. I recently instituted my own Sonic Rewards Fridays. Eli was being so slow about getting ready in the morning, and Colton was having trouble getting finished in a reasonable amount of time. It was like pulling teeth--first one in the morning, and the other at the end of our day. So, I set up 2 small white boards on the fridge, listed the days down the left, and made two columns labeled "Start" and "Finish". Here's the deal. If they are ready for school before the alarm on my phone, they get a star. If they finish everything before we quit for lunch, they get another star. Ten possible stars in a week. If they earn 6, 7, or 8 stars, I take them to Sonic on Friday during Happy Hour for a slush. If they earn 9 or 10 stars, they can upgrade to an ice cream cone or cream slush (while those are half price). So far, we are doing WAY better.

HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER
In a push to raise money before we get a referral, I'm reinstituting the "Party Contest" fundraiser. If anyone is interested in participating, it's really very simple. You host a party: watch a movie, play games, do something specific...or not. Each guest brings $10. You can either ask guests to bring a snack or pay for the snacks out of the money collected. The money can then be sent to us. There are details on our website from the last time we did this. Prizes were involved for the most sent in as well as for everyone sending in $150 or more. Please check it out. (Link to our website here.) I've not yet updated the pdfs, but the info on the page should be up to date.

VACATION FUNDRAISER
Here's a new one. We are using our vacation club membership as a fundraiser. You can link to a page on our website for some current specials. The details are there, but basically you get a great deal on your accommodations. For the price we charge you, we pay for the condo and the fee for booking a trip for a non-member. Anything left over goes toward our adoption.

Correction and Update

2010-09-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

Okay, I must have been very tired last night. I completely lied about Eli's being born at 33 weeks. As I recall, he was born 3 weeks early, not AT 33 weeks. It sounded good last night to compare the FBI to that, but I realized today that it was an accidental exaggeration. On a more ironic note, though, I saw that Tim's FBI letter will be expiring very soon. Oh boy. Here we go again.

While I have you here reading, I'll give a bit more update. I got all of my papers apostilled today. They are ready to go in the mail tomorrow to our agency. From there, on to Bulgaria they go.

I have been so focused on finishing the applications, finishing the home study, finishing the dossier, waiting for the FBI, and fundraising. Now that the waiting (and, of course, fundraising) is imminent, I feel myself getting nervous. What will the girls be like? Will we all get along? Will it take a long time to feel like a family? What if they don't like us? What if they are scared of us or where we live? Can I really handle this? Will I ever have the house in order enough to make room for two more kids? How will I homeschool four? I don't know if I am prepared for travelling. I've never been on a plane or out of the country (except to drive into Canada for 5 minutes back before passports were needed). Can my boys handle our being out of the country for a week...twice? I sometimes still can't get Eli to go into his Sunday School class and stay.

Anyway, the alternative (not adopting) just isn't an option. The boys are anxious for the girls to get here. I want them here (and I want the yard sales to stop). Most of all I want to be obedient to God, and I really feel that He is the one who has led us to this place. I don't know what all He has in store for our family, but I do know that if we don't follow His lead, we will miss out on the blessings He had planned for us. The ride has been especially bumpy this year, but it just makes me hold on tighter to the One who knows where we are going.

FINALLY

2010-09-20T22:09:00.003-05:00

Well it "only" took 32 weeks to get my FBI clearance letter! (Funny, it only took 33 weeks for my second child to be conceived, developed, and born!!) It arrived on Saturday during Yard Sale #22. Today I took this letter along with 3 other documents that have expired while we waited and had them notarized and certified. Tomorrow I make the trip to Nashville to have them apostilled. Next they are off to Bulgaria as quickly as possible so we can be officially registered.

Next we wait and try to raise BIG BUCKS!

Yard Sale #21

2010-09-04T21:16:00.004-05:00

That's right. We completed yard sale #21 today. This is the 10th this year, but the 21st since we started raising money for this adoption. We have now raised over $4000 just on yard sales items. Today was our biggest one-day sale ever! We even did better than some of our 2-day sales have been.

I haven't heard yet if we are officially registered in Bulgaria. We were told that we should have been by the end of August. I will probably email the agency on Monday just to see if it is official yet. I'm both excited and nervous at the thought of being registered. I'm anxious to have the girls here as soon as possible, but I know we don't have the money yet. I would so hate to delay bringing the girls home just because the money wasn't ready.

Photo Op

2010-08-26T21:54:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was finally able to talk to a friend who has just been home a couple of weeks with her 3 1/2 year-old daughter from China. When I got off the phone, I was explaining to the boys (who are just dying to meet her) that they are still adjusting. I could tell from the blank looks on their faces that they weren't quite understanding. So, I elaborated by telling them that for one thing, she was waking up at night and probably wondering "Where am I? Where did the lady go that usually takes care of me? Who are these people who talk funny?"

We left it at that and went on to their piano lessons. After we got home, Eli saw his camera on a shelf, asked for it, and started taking pictures everywhere. When Tim came in from school, he asked Eli what he was doing. Eli said he was taking pictures of the house for Keely and Mattie. Apparently he planned to send these pictures to Bulgaria for Keely and Mattie so that when they come home, they won't feel like they are in a strange place. What a sweetie! He even opened the fridge and took pictures of the inside.

Both boys seem to have the girls on their minds more lately. Makes me proud of them.

Another Small Step; Another Big Plan

2010-08-15T20:14:00.003-05:00

Our dossier is out of translation and should be registered by the end of the month. Because of various summer complications and temperatures over 100, we have not had the kamikaze yard sale season we thought we would have. Perhaps we will be able to have Saturday sales until Thanksgiving or something like that.

We are working on our application with Both Hands for a major fundraiser this fall. If I haven't told you how it works, here's the condensed version. We put together a team who sends out letters asking people to sponsor them. BUT, instead of sponsoring them in a race or walk or something like that, they will be spending one Saturday working on a widow's house. That's why it is called Both Hands. In one project, one hand helps the widow while the other helps the orphan. Our first problem is that we don't know a widow that needs this help. If you know of one in our area who would be willing to help us by letting us help her, PLEASE let us know.

The second issue is that we are supposed to have a foreman to oversee all of the projects. We don't have this either. So, if you can help or recommend someone...... you get the picture.

School is now underway. Tim has finished his first full week with students. The boys and I have finished two weeks. So far, so good.

To those of you who have asked about our adoption progress, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You don't know what an encouragement it is for you to simply ask how it is going...and then stand there politely while I give you an update that is a little too long. Thanks for letting me vent.

Dossier News

2010-07-21T22:34:00.003-05:00

I can't believe almost a month has passed since my last post. I had just sent our dossier to our placing agency. I found out a few days later that they had already sent it on to Bulgaria. They spoke with people in Bulgaria and got "permission" to go ahead and send it WHILE updating Tim's med letter and still trying to get my FBI clearance letter. So, it is being translated now. Then we wait for the match...

Of course, our wait will be a busy one. When we accept a referral (and soon thereafter) we will need to spend approximately another $10,000. Traveling twice and final fees will result in roughly another $10,000. Can you say "yard sale"? Now trying saying it a LOT...REALLY FAST. I guess that's about how many we will do.

In non-adoption news, we will be starting our school year next week. Colton will be in 3rd grade, and Eli will actually be starting kindergarten. I haven't yet finished writing everything in the plan books, but I hope to be finished soon. Also, Tim had knee surgery on Monday. He seems to be recovering very well.

In the Mail!!

2010-06-26T11:05:00.002-05:00

First, a little more of our roller coaster ride. I forgot to mention in my last post that on the Friday before Memorial Day (before going to the ER), lightening hit our house. It was very loud and bright, and I told Tim for quite a while that I still felt tingly all over. The next day we noticed a hole in the soffit just about 6 feet above my head where I had been sitting in the corner of my bedroom when it hit. Upon closer inspection, we determined that it was an entrance hole and found the exit hole on the far side of the garage door. We feel very blessed that the house didn't catch on fire. We lost several electronics and are still working to replace those.

Next, I didn't mention that as Tim left the ER on crutches on that Saturday, we were due to leave for vacation on Tuesday -- a two-week road trip through 15 states. I was afraid I was going to end up driving, but by the time we left, he wasn't really using the crutches anymore and had traded the stiff leg stablizer on his knee for a bendable brace. We traveled with the crutches and stablizer in the back, but never had to use them. (Thank you, Lord!)

I hope to do a separate post about vacation later when I get my pics on the computer, so for now I will move on to adoption news. As I mentioned last time, I was rejected again for my FBI prints. The additional problem was that this news came the 2nd day of our trip. It would be almost 2 weeks before I'd even be home to redo them. Our agency's director spoke with the officials in Bulgaria, and they said for us to go ahead and submit our dossier without the FBI clearance letter AND to go ahead and try the fingerprints again. While we are waiting for the FBI, they can be translating our documents.

We got home from vacation on Sunday about 4:30. We had 2 hours to unload, change clothes, grab a pizza, and get to church for the start of VBS week...not only for the kids, but Tim and I were working as well.

Monday's plan--finish the dossier and get it in the mail. Didn't happen. I got most of our papers notarized, but ran out of time before getting to our local agency for picking up the last few papers and having them notarized there. Rushed back home to get ready for VBS. (VBS didn't dismiss each night until 8:45. We usually didn't leave until after 9. Home and to bed. No time for anything.)

Tuesday's plan--get the dossier to Nashville to be apostilled. Didn't happen. Tim had a doctor's appointment in the AM for his knee. I got the rest of the papers from HSC (the local agency). With everything notarized, we went to the county clerk's office to have all of the notary stamps certified. Apparently, we are in one of only two states who require this step before apostilling. While there, they pulled my medical letter out of the stack and handed it back to me. Its notary was commissioned in Williamson County. Great. There went the trip to Nashville. We made the trip to Williamson County instead. When we arrived and gave them the paper, though, they pointed out that the notary's commision expired last week. (We've had the letter since April but couldn't get the other ducks in a row to get to this step in the process.) I wasn't angry about the delay, but I did feel stupid for not noticing the expiration date written right on the front of the letter. And I caused Tim to lose the entire afternoon from getting things done on his own to-do list.

Wednesday's plan--get a new doctor's letter with a new notarization and get it certified so we can go to Nashville tomorrow. It worked out that I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for this afternoon, so I spent some time scanning the dossier before the apostille is applied. I took a new copy of the med letter to my doctor, but had to leave it to be completed. They called an hour after I got home and said it was ready, but I didn't have enough time to go get it, go to HSC to get it notarized, and get to the county clerk's office before they closed. I spent a few minutes trying to put away vacation stuff instead. Oh, I also noticed the night before that the medical letter stated that a copy of the doctor's license was attached. Neither of our doctors had done this. We asked both today, and they said their legal departments said no.

Thursday's plan--get to Nashville! Tim had an MRI this morning on his knee. Once he was home, I went to my doc's office and got my letter. Took letter to HSC to be notarized. Stephanie tried to pull up our doctors' licenses online, but the website was painfully slow. Took letter to county clerk. "Weren't you here just the other day?" "Yes. Yes, I was." Triple check stack of papers to be apostilled. In-laws weren't home, so we loaded the kids and papers up for a trip to the Secretary of State's office. We had been told to be at the door no later than 3:30 if we wanted to get in the building. I signed in at 3:17. Tim had to stay in the lobby with the guard because the kids were not allowed in the building. About 45 minutes later, I emerged with our precious stack of apostilled papers. Again, we barely made it to VBS. Finally got the doctors' licenses verified online and printed each.

Friday's plan--get fingerprinted for the 3rd time; get fingerprints and dossier in the mail. Each day this week, other things have come up in the morning (even besides trying to catch up on sleep from vacation and VBS), so that we usually don't get going until afternoon. I spent this morning scanning the apostilles. I now have the entire dossier in a single pdf file with bookmarks to each part. I also printed a copy of the entire thing to include when mailing it to our placing agency. In the afternoon, we dropped the kids off at the in-laws, grabbed the pull-behind trailer, and continued up the street to pick up a washing machine (donated for us to sell). We took the machine back to our house to unload and couldn't get to our driveway because of the fire trucks. Yes, fire trucks. It's a bad feeling when you turn onto your street and see fire trucks about as far up the street as your house. Turns out, it was the house across the street from us. It wasn't blazing, but there was a good bit of smoke. Apparently the fire dept got there very quickly. We four-wheeled the dolly with the machine across yards and put it in the garage. We left the trailer in a neighbor's yard and headed to the police department for fingerprints. We picked up the outside phone as always and told them why we were there. He said he would come and get us, but it would be a while because they were wrestling three guys. Okay. If only he had not said he would come and get us, we would have waited a bit and then left. I hated to interrupt them by calling again even to say "never mind." So we waited. And waited. And waited. After about 45 minutes, we called again. This time a lady answered and told us to come around to booking. We did. We called again from that phone, and she said she'd come get us. So we waited. And waited. Finally, she came. I told her that I had been rejected twice from the FBI. She called out asking for anyone who was really good with fingerprints. Another officer came forward and did the most thorough job of ink prints I've had done yet. By the time we left, an hour or more had passed. Post office was closed. Tim was late for picking recyclables for some folks (a tiny side business of his). Got that done, ran to pick up the kids, rushed to VBS for closing night.

Saturday's plan--drag myself to the post office place and mail the fingerprints and dossier. I spent the first part of the morning cleaning. We made a mess packing for vacation. Then we came back and dropped everything to rush to VBS. Every day we have concentrated more on the dossier and VBS and haven't made any noticable progress in cleaning. Today is the day to conquer the house!!! Besides, I wasn't sure when the post office place opened. : D So I cleaned until about 10, and then went in and actually mailed everything! YEA!! What a relief to have it finished. Yes, I understand that my agency may call Tuesday and say, "You forgot to..." I'm almost expecting it. But I checked everything 5 or 6 times, so I at least feel confident that I did my best.

And now...back to the House of Clutter.

Roller Coaster Ride

2010-06-13T09:35:00.002-05:00

Any of you who have been on an adoption journey know that it is a roller coaster ride. However, the last few weeks have been especially crazy.

First, in my last entry, I mistakenly called it our second yard sale weekend. It was our third. How time flies when you're having fun! As I began to prepare for this one. A snake got in the garage. I got him out, but he wouldn't go far. Every time we opened the garage door, one of us had to watch him to make sure he didn't go in again. At the end of our sale on Saturday, as we were cleaning up, we looked and saw he had gotten caught in a glue trap (a triangular tunnel with a sticky floor for catching mice.) On a second look there was an awful lot of snake coming out both ends. I said, "I TOLD you I thought I saw two snakes that first time!" When Tim took them back into the woods to attempt to let them go, he opened the trap and found that there were FIVE snakes! Yikes! Oh, and this was our best yard sale so far this year. Yea!

On Memorial Day, we started the day by finding one more (but much bigger) snake caught in a new glue trap in the same corner of our garage. Yuck! By the end of the day I was in the emergency room. See, I had been feeling my heart skip a beat and was really tiring out by evening. After a nap in the afternoon, my left arm was kind of numb. I was scared enough to go to the ER. We spent the rest of the evening there. They found nothing at all wrong with my heart but did find that I had a touch of pneumonia! Go figure. That would explain my tiredness. So I went home with a prescription for that and followed up with my regular doc a couple of days later. She prescribed 8 hours of sleep a night for the heart skipping. With kids, that's difficult, but I'm working hard to sleep more. ; )

This was followed by a quick 2-night trip to my mom's. As we returned on Friday, Tim had to get things together for an RA campout at church. A little too much kickball with the boys, and he had re-injured his left knee (which he first hurt last year but never had it looked at so it's been hurting off and on ever since...MEN!). On Saturday, he came home and was putting things back into our storage shed and -- possibly because of his sore knee -- he fell out of the shed and hurt his foot. When a huge knot came up on top of his foot, we decided it was time for his trip to the ER fearing he had broken it. We've been to the ER once in 1997 and once in 2006. Now we had been twice in one week!! Turns out he had a sprained left knee and a sprained right foot. Even with crutches, that made for some interesting and slow walking. But, we were very thankful nothing was broken.

A few days later, I found out that my granny (last living grandparent I have) was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Please say a prayer for her as she is facing surgery.

Next, a good thing. We got our I-800A approved. Yea! That left only my FBI clearance letter before our dossier would be ready to "officialize" and send in. Remember how that was rejected after 8 weeks of waiting? Well, 9 weeks after submitting my fingerprints again, I was rejected AGAIN! Makes me wonder how they can ever use fingerprints to catch a criminal.

If I do my prints a third time (and btw they want more money for the third time...how convenient), then by the time we hear from them again, Tim's letter will have expired! This is where I need another prayer from you. Our agency is going to talk with the Bulgarian officials, explain the problem, and see if we can prove my lack of criminal history another way. After all, I had to be FBI cleared for our home study and again for our I-800A. Pray that they will let us resolve this now so we can get our dossier sent in.

USCIS, Yard Sales, End of School

2010-05-26T21:57:00.002-05:00

First, USCIS. I received a notice from USCIS saying there was a problem with our I-800A. The first problem was that I did not send an original copy of our home study. I do have an excuse for this. The instructions on their website said in bold print DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS UNLESS INSTRUCTED TO DO SO. Below these instructions in section 7, they give instructions for the home study. Nowhere in this section do they tell you to send original documents! !#@!$#@!# The second problem I don't understand. Page 9 of our 10-page home study was simply missing. I checked the scanned version on my computer, and sure enough, page 9 was missing. I'm sure I fed it through automatically, so page 9 must have simply stuck to page 10. The third and final problem I have absolutely no excuse for. Since our home study agency is not Hague accredited, we were supposed to submit a letter from our placing agency (Hague accredited) saying that they had reviewed the home study. Okay, I just totally missed that part. Nevertheless, I got a letter from our placing agency and SEVERAL original "copies" of our home study from our local agency and got the required items in the mail yesterday.

Today we took care of our USCIS fingerprinting appointment. These were the computerized fingerprints like we did the first time for the home study except we had to go to Nashville to have these done. At first I thought we were doing very well, but the lady did have a lot of difficulty with a couple of my fingers. She just couldn't get good prints from them. She finally had to report it to her supervisor who graciously gave us both permission to call it quits. (In case you have forgotten, my first set of ink prints sent in for my FBI clearance letter was rejected after 8 weeks of waiting. I'm now on week 7 after sending in the second set.) It was kind of freaky though to watch the computer screen after a scan and see red letters come up saying "Warning: Match Found". It did that a lot. Upon leaving, I told Tim that I guess there is a criminal out there who also has lousy prints. Without prints, though, they can't prove it's me!

Next topic: Yard Sales. We're having Yd Sale 2 this weekend. Our goal is to do two per month this summer. I'm completely pooped just typing that! One big blessing, though, is that our garage is absolutely full of donations. I don't think we will even put out anything that was in our sale a couple of weeks ago. I'm even scheduled tomorrow to pick-up the leftovers from a yard sale that took place last weekend.

Finally, we are wrapping up our school year tomorrow. I can't believe Colton will be in 3rd grade next year. Worse yet, Eli will be in kindergarten! Where did the time go! Just think, Colton was going into kindergarten when we decided to adopt. I am so ready for this process to be over!! Okay, just having one of those "impatient moments" there. Back to our school year...Overall, I think we had a really good year. Eli is doing great with his reading, and we'll be continuing his lessons some over the summer. Colton changed math books part way through the year, so we will be doing some math all (or most) of the summer just to make sure he is on track to start third grade. Of course, we are most excited to see Tim come home for the summer. The boys just love having their daddy home all summer. I must say I enjoy it, too.

More Fingerprints

2010-05-06T21:58:00.003-05:00

Have you other adopters ever wondered how expensive it would be to just BUY your own fingerprinting equipment? I'm thinking it would be so much easier if I could just do this myself and have the fingerprints notarized or something.

In my last post, I told you that my fingerprints for the FBI clearance letter had been rejected. I went and had those redone. The very day I put them back in the mail to the FBI, Tim's clearance letter arrived. It took 8 weeks and 3 days for his letter to come. As of today, I have waited 12 weeks and 3 days. Keep in mind that these letters apparently self-destruct every 6 months. I'm beginning to wonder how far in advance I need to begin the process again.

We did have a note of progress today, though. We received our notice from USCIS of our appointment to be fingerprinted for them. We have to go to Nashville for these. For those of you living outside of TN, you may not have heard about Nashville's 500-yr flood last weekend. Our appointment isn't until the end of the month, but I'm thinking that I might need to be calling someone to see if the building is still there, still open, etc. Click here to see the flood. We don't actually live in Nashville, but we are only about 30 minutes away. I could not believe the devestation was so nearby while we sat so unaffected in our dry home.

Gotta give praises here...friends received their referral since my last post. So happy for them and can't wait for them to travel.

Yard Sales and EASTER

2010-04-04T17:17:00.004-05:00

Yard Sale Season is officially underway for 2010. We had our first yard sale this past Friday and Saturday. Sometimes when people donate large items, we put those on Craigslist instead of in the sale. So, our total for the sale and the Craigslist stuff that has sold came to $480. Yea!

It was funny how God worked it. We can usually average about $500 for a weekend. Friday we were so excited to raise almost $350. Then Saturday morning we realized why we had a big day on Friday...we were rained out all morning. The rain did finally pass, and we hurried out to set up about 11:30. Not the time of day to start a sale! But it was like a bad spoof on "Field of Dreams" -- "If you raise the garage doors, they will come." We didn't have the first table out before cars were stopping. The abbreviated day didn't yield a lot, but it was about $90 we didn't have before. (If you're doing the math, the rest was from Craigslist.)

We completed our home study a few weeks ago, but are just now poised to get the official, notarized copy in our hands. As soon as we do, we will be ready to send in our I-800A to USCIS. This is our request to immigration for permission to bring the girls into the US. Once we get another fingerprinting appointment from them, we will wait for their approval letter. When that is received, we will be ready to send in our dossier. I can't wait to get those stacks of papers off of the girls bed. They've been sitting there since our home study was finished in mid-February.

On a frustrating note, I received an envelope from the FBI saying that they had rejected my fingerprints. We sent that in 8 weeks ago tomorrow and have been waiting for our FBI clearance letter. Now I have to be re-fingerprinted and send it in again. Does that mean my 10-week wait starts all over? These letters are only good for 6 months. Does that mean that Tim's will expire 2 months before mine. It would have been a lot easier to keep all those expiration dates together. I also have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and was going to get my med form signed. (It's also only good for 6 months.) That was supposed to coincide with the FBI clearance letter. Now I think my dates are all messed up. Not to mention that the delay really stinks.

Okay, moving on to a family update. Eli turned 5 in February with a big party at Bounce-U. He is starting to seem so big! He is eating MUCH better, but he is still only about 36 pounds. He was sick just after his birthday with a stomach bug, and his appetite took off as he got better. He's gone from the 18-month-old who might eat 1/2 a grape for lunch to the 5-yr-old who had 4 fried eggs and a pop-tart for lunch last week. He is crazy about fruit, raw spinach, and mashed potatoes. Eli is also doing a great job with his reading lessons. He is starting to find words in the "real world" that he knows. Love that stage!

Colton took Eli's stomach bug about a week later. It took his appetite away for a while. He will be turning 8 next week and wants a quiet birthday supper at home with family. He's doing great with his school work. His favorite subject is history, although he really likes science and Spanish also. Colton and Eli have both started taking martial arts. I think they are really enjoying it.

Finally, onto Easter! I wish we celebrated Easter every Sunday. Today's service was awesome. I even dusted off my trumpet to play for the offertory. Nerve-wracking! I haven't really played in at least 20 years. (Oh my! Did I just admit that in writing!) Maybe I'm committed now to keeping it up since folks know I can play. I do want to polish it up a bit -- the playing, not the actual trumpet. On the way home, Eli said, "When are Keely and Mattie going to be here?" ...which brings me full circle back to the adoption. It warms my heart, though, to know that the boys are thinking about them.

Happy Easter, Everyone! Christ the Lord is Risen Today!!!

Correction

2010-03-23T23:38:00.002-05:00

For those of you who subscribe to my blog or have it emailed to you, I wanted to let you know that I had to make a few changes to my last entry. The pricing for the puzzle pieces has changed. It is now $3 for each piece, but if you purchase 10 or more they are $2.50 each. I was having too many complications working out a way for online ordering, and purchasing and odd number of pieces (greater than 1) was getting weird.

Sorry for the confusion, but I think I have it worked out now.

Puzzle Sale

2010-03-20T12:52:00.013-05:00

Okay, I stole this fundraiser idea from another adoptive family, but I think it is just precious. I have purchased two 1000-piece puzzles. Here they are...

To raise funds for our adoption, we are "selling" the puzzle pieces. For each piece you purchase, we will write your name (or any name you choose) on the back of the puzzle. When the puzzles are complete, I will frame them to hang in the girls' room, and one day they will each have a puzzle as a keepsake. The names on the back will be visible to show them all the people who helped to bring them home.

*Purchase a piece with your name on the back
*Purchase a piece for each member of your family
*Purchase pieces equally from Keely's and Mattie's puzzles (but you don't HAVE to specify whose puzzle if you don't want)
*Purchase pieces "in honor" or "in memory" of someone
*Purchase a section of pieces as a group (extended family, club, Sunday School class, etc.)

Each piece costs $3. If you purchase 10 or more, they are $2.50 each. Here's how to participate...

1. Click the DONATE button on the right to go to PayPal.
2. Enter the amount you wish to donate.
3. In the special instructions box, tell me how many pieces you are "purchasing" and whose name(s) should appear on the puzzle.
4. Tell your friends, family, coworkers, or church how they can also help us. We still have A LOT of funds to raise before our daughters can come home

If you don't want to donate online, we can take your donations in person (if you live in our area), or you can email me for our mailing address. LDeMoss@comcast.net

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

February Fun Night

2010-01-30T23:28:00.003-06:00

Since my last post, we have worked on our home study, had a great Christmas, worked on our home study, had a great New Year's, worked on my transcription course, worked on the home study, researched (again) and changed our math curriculum (We're switching from Math-U-See to Math Mammoth. Let me know if you would like more info.), and worked on the home study. This week we submitted the last items to our social worker. She thinks she can have our home study written up and ready for us by Feb 11. With that in mind, I hope to get everything ready for our dossier, the I-800A, and maybe even a couple of grant applications. As soon as I have that home study in hand, I can start sending those things off.

I haven't had the nerve to check, but I think we will also be due another payment to our placing agency when we submit the dossier. That means we need to hit some fundraising again. Since it is too cold for a yard sale (not to mention all the snow and ice outside right now), I thought I'd suggest February Fun Night. I'm looking for 10 people who will participate.

All you have to do, is organize a Fun Night fundraiser for a group of your friends. Let them know that this is a fundraiser for our adoption and ask them to bring a $10 donation to the event. The group you invite might be your Sunday School class, your scrapbooking friends, your cousins, a mini-reunion of college friends, your daughter's friends, your son's scout troop, your church's youth group, etc., etc. The possibilities go on and on.

What do you do at this Fun Night? It's entirely your choice. Offer snacks and a movie, work on a common hobby, have game night, a Wii party, kareoke, or Girls' Night Out. Let your daughter have a slumber party for donating guests. Have pizza night.

If you don't want to provide the snacks, you could put in $10 like everyone else and take the cost of the party out of the collection. Whatever is left is how much your party can send in.

Just think! If 10 people participate and have 10 people come to each of their parties and donate $10 each, that would be $1000. I would feel really comfortable going into this dossier with an extra $2000 ready to be sent here and there.

If you live nearby, I'd be glad to come share our story about adoption. If you live further away, I can email you a printed version you could share with your guests. Or, share the story as part of the invitation if you think that would be helpful.

Let me know if you have questions.

Let me know if you want to SIGN UP.

Busy Beginnings

2009-12-05T15:08:00.002-06:00

Besides deep cleaning and completely reorganizing the house, I have jumped head first into the paper work for the home study. Here's what I've done so far.

Sent a request for Tim's birth certificate. I'll get mine when we go home for Christmas.
We'll also make a short road trip during Christmas for our marriage certificate.
Made copies of our last 3 years of tax returns and our W2s.
Proof of car insurance.
Proof of home insurance.
Proof of life insurance for each of us.
Copies of driver's licenses.
Made a list of people who will be references. (Still waiting for the okay and mailing info from a few.)
List of all past residences since the age of 18.
Passport pictures taken. Forms filled out. Waiting for birth certificates to submit.

That's half the list! The other half, though, won't be as quick to complete. Letters from employers, police clearance, fingerprints, education hours, just to name a few.

Then, for the placing agency, I have their paperwork almost completed, and we had our family picture made today to include. Once that is submitted, they send us the contract, we sign it and return it, and they send us the dossier. Then the DEEP paperwork begins.

All of this plus Thanksgiving, Christmas preparations, extra Christmas choir practices, resumed homeschooling, Eli sick (only one day, "Thank you, Lord!"), and on and on and on. So I guess I'd better get back to cleaning now...

Woo-Hoo! We're Official

2009-11-24T11:50:00.002-06:00

Okay, all you veteran adoptive parents, laugh at me if you want. But I feel we have finally made it to the first mile marker in a decathalon...I mean that as an accomplishment. The boys and I went by the local adoption agency (our home study agency) and turned in a lengthy application complete with autobiographies and our first check of many. We have already scheduled our first visit from the agency. Now I begin collecting birth certificates, marriage certificates, references, tax returns, medical forms, proof of insurances, background checks, fingerprints, etc., etc., etc. Right now as we begin, I am bound and determined to do this as quickly as I am able while not getting frustrated when we are delayed by others who do not feel my sense of urgency. : )

I have received the official application from the placing agency, and we'll be working through that over the Thanksgiving break.

Tree of Life

2009-11-21T09:50:00.004-06:00

Last night we had a wonderful phone call/meeting with Kay from Tree of Life adoption agency. They are going to be our placing agency. This was our chance to "meet" her, get information, and ask questions before officially committing to this agency. We came away from that call feeling VERY comfortable with her and their Bulgarian program. Kay, herself, has 3 children from Bulgaria, so I feel that she has a very personal interest in this program.

I think Tim and I both got a boost in our excitement and committment to moving forward. He is going to try to finish those last items today or tomorrow so we can get everything notarized Monday and maybe turned in Tuesday or so. There is so much to do, and with his Christmas break coming up soon, that will be a great time to try to tackle as much as we can at one time.

After the phone call, we continued our discussion over a wonderful dinner for just the two of us at Red Lobster. I LOVE seafood, but I don't get it often because it is expensive. But my wonderfully talented husband was able to pack 11 large marshmellows in his mouth at a recent Sunday School party and won a gift card to Red Lobster. We won't dwell on the fact that he got a marshmellow for every question we didn't answer or the fact that there were 11 questions asked.

As for the kids, I've started talking to them a little more about how they feel about the adoption. I figure I need to prepare them a little for any questions they have to answer during the home study. One of the things agencies point out for us to make sure WE are ready for is the fact that we are adopting transracially. These kids will be Roma (or gypsy) with darker skin and black hair. (Kay said people have asked her children why they don't speak Spanish. She said often others think her kids are from Guatemala.) When I asked Colton if he was okay with their skin being a little darker than ours, he looked up suddenly at me with a confused look on his face and said "sure". But he looked at me as though I had asked one of the dumbest questions he'd ever heard. He is WAY more concerned over the fact that they will be girls. He and Eli aren't sure how they feel about finding pink stuff or dolls left in their room. That's my boys!

Ready to Apply

2009-11-05T10:58:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on my last post. It was very helpful. I've actually sat down several times to update my blog, but things have just been so busy. So, hold on...here we go.

Costa Rica is now off of our consideration list. They are requiring a 6-week stay. We simply can't do that. The two little girls from India appear to still be available, but the agency will not respond to my emails. So the girls and that agency are off of our consideration list. We are back to Bulgaria.

We have also made a 99% commitment to choosing Tree of Life as our placing agency. We previously were going to go with Christian World Adoption (and I still feel good about them), but Tree of Life has a bit of an edge in their experience with Bulgaria. They also come with glowing reports from their referral list.

Last night we attended another informational meeting at Heaven Sent Children (HSC). We went to one a long time ago, but we felt is was a good time to go again to meet the staff and get a few more questions answered. Tim is about 98% finished with his autobiography, and I have redone the rest of the application to update it. So, when his is completely finished, we just need to have everything signed and notarized to send it in to HSC and get our homestudy officially started. At the same time, I will send the pre-application to TOL (Tree of Life) to get started with them. TOL says that we should work on both at the same time and strive to finish everything at the same time. My head is already swimming a little trying to figure out what do to first.

In fundraising news, we have finally had our final 2009 yard sale. Our total last weekend was $533.65. That brings our yard sale total for 2009 to $1524.77. Since we began fundraising 2 years ago we have raised $2110.47 just on yard sales! Not bad. Of course, if anyone out there would like to send us a check for $20,000, I would not mind forgetting future yard sales. ; )

As always please pray for us during this process. We want to make sure our boys are prepared, and I don't want Tim stressed more than he already is with work for school.

And (as always) I am open to any fundraising ideas you may have. Better still any income ideas you may have would be helpful. Fundraising is great for now, but more income would help much longer.

Question for Adoptive Families

2009-10-09T19:49:00.002-05:00

First, I'm going to assume that some of the adoption folks whose blogs I follow might also read mine. Next I want to ask you a question. How did you choose your country?

I've been asked numerous times, "Why Bulgaria?" I followed up with several reasons and a gut feeling. Now, I'm not so sure. Of course, knowing myself for as long as I have, I know that it is entirely possible that God let me feel settled on Bulgaria so I could focus on fundraising. It wouldn't be the first time He focused me on something just so I wouldn't wander off somewhere in the wrong direction. Later He breaks my focus when He is ready to show me what He really wants me to have or do. (Sound familiar, Cindy?) It's kind of like having a hungry baby, but the bottle isn't ready. You give him a toy to hold his attention. When the food is ready, you take the toy (probably causing him to scream all over again like "Well, why did you give me that in the first place!") and give him the food that is finally ready for him. Does that make sense? Bottom line is I'm trying not to throw a fit saying, "But I thought You said Bulgaria!" I'm really trying to keep an open mind and open emotions to see if there is a better fit for us now that we are so close to committing. (Yes, Tim has worked on his paper work today. Yea!)

Now in the last post, I told you about a new opportunity in Costa Rica. I have yet to hear any more information about that, but I was starting to get more and more comfortable with the idea...especially the language. This week, though, I saw a picture of two sisters (ages 7 and 5) who are currently available. Perfect! The seven year-old is even still younger than Colton by 2 months. Perfect! They are in India. Whoa! I haven't really given India much thought. I had to email the agency just to find out their country and got the response very quickly. I replied right away requesting more information about them and have waited over 30 hours with no reply. I even emailed again today. No response. It's Friday now...I'm not likely to hearing anything until at least Monday. It's frustrating. Maybe they are already taken. Good for them. Confusing for me.

So now I feel like we're back at square one. Picking a country--which determines which placing agency we will use--which can affect which home study agency we choose--which could mean we are in the paperwork stage of our homestudy, or it could mean we will have to start all over with someone else.

Any advice?

A New Twist

2009-10-02T18:51:00.002-05:00

Not a lot has happened since the last post...at least not with the adoption. School has been crazy for Tim, and he has started co-teaching RAs at church. He is planning to hit the home study paperwork hard during Fall Break.

There is a new twist in our plan. As you know, we long ago selected Bulgaria as our chosen country. Along with that choice, we then were able to choose our placing agency which led to our choice of home study agency. Last week I received a newsletter that told about Costa Rica reopening their international adoption program. They haven't been open since 1984. I have already contacted several agencies for information, but the decision to add the Costa Rica program is so fresh, they don't have any information put together to give out yet. And what little info I'm getting has some conflicting points. For example, one agency says the travel time will be two weeks for the first trip and one week for the second trip. That's doable. But another agency says that both parents will be required to stay in the country for 1 trip that is 6 weeks long! That's a deal-breaker. The preliminary info looks like the adoption fees might be less than Bulgaria for one child, but we don't know about for two since Bulgaria is really good about more than one at a time. CR would be closer than B which would be both easier and possibly cheaper. And don't forget that CR speaks Spanish! We started studying that last year. I'm not very confident that I'd learn any Bulgarian, and it would be cool if we could communicate even a little right off the bat. The kids are adorable from both countries. Wait times for CR is uncertain so far, but it might be a little shorter than B.

The biggest problem in even considering a country change is the domino effect. The placing agency we had chosen doesn't have plans for a CR program, so we'd have to pick another. Add to that the fact that some placing agencies will require a specific home study agency (usually not the one we have started the paper work for). It seems there are so many decisions that hinge on each other. It's hard to know where to start.

If you have room on your prayer list, please pray that we will be able to push through the paperwork and make clear, decisive, and correct choices all along the way.

Exhausted and Overwhelmed

2009-08-30T22:01:00.003-05:00

Okay, I am totally exhausted and overwhelmed. Let's start with the exhausted part.

We had a BBQ sandwich fundraiser at church tonight, so my story begins on Friday. Friends from church purchased and smoked the meat for us. I picked it up from them about 8:00 Friday night. After getting settled in for the night, Tim and I got busy pulling the meat. We didn't get started until about 10:00. Tim had to quit about 11 or 11:30 and tend to the boys who were set for a "camp out" in the living room. (No tents. We just all sleep in the living room. They love it.) I finally quit pulling at 1:30 and got in bed by 2:00. We slept in Saturday morning, but I got started again on the pulling about 8:30 and pulled for another couple of hours. This was followed by a rushed trip of shopping for the dinner and picking up crockpots from my mother-in-law. Once home, I inhaled some lunch and took the boys to back-to-back birthday parties from 2:45 until 7:00.

I was so ready to catch up on some sleep, but I didn't make it to bed until about 11:30. Next, Colton woke me up about 1:30. He can't stand to be stopped up and unable to breathe. We moved to the couch where I slept sitting up beside him for about an hour. I later slid over enough to lie down on the couch and finally moved back to my own bed about 4:45. Whew! Finally, sleep.......NOT! Eli comes in at 5:30. "Can I have a drink of water?" "Can you get?" "Yes." and off he goes to get a drink from his water in the fridge. At least I didn't have to do much that time. Next my alarm goes off at 6:00, but I don't hear it until about 7:00.

Sunday arrived. Sunday morning service. Bro Jason preached a wonderful sermon connecting earthly adoption to being adopted into God's family. Hopefully hearts were stirred, and we won't be the only ones adopting for long. The afternoon is filled with last minute preparations. I got to church a little after 4:00 to start setting up. Choir practice was at 4:30. The concert was at 6:00. After cleaning up, we left the church at 8:00.

Now for the overwhelming part. When we got everything put away, I finally emptied our donation bucket to begin counting. By the time I finished, I was in tears. We needed around $500 to meet our self-imposed Phase 1 goal ($6000). Instead of that goal being met, it was crushed. After expenses, we cleared just over $2000!!! Praise God! Not only are we ready to start sending in paperwork, but I really needed that boost of support.

WOW! What a Weekend!

Update 3 of 3: Adoption Fundraiser

2009-08-13T23:03:00.002-05:00

Tim has been working on his paperwork for the homestudy this summer. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a storage barn that was calling to be built in the back yard. Time really began to crunch as the start of school hovered over us. Now he only has weekends to work on the barn, but it is almost finished. Once he does finish his part of the paperwork, I'll go back and redo the financial information. By then, we just might have the money we need to officially get started.

We have a fundraiser coming up at our church on August 30. If you are in the area, come by for the evening service. The choir is presenting a concert. Afterward, there will be a BBQ sandwich dinner as a fundraiser. They are planning to have homemade ice cream as well! Leading up to this fundraiser, our pastor is going to be preaching on adoption in the morning service. Hopefully, that will reach some of those who have simply not considered the great need of orphans worldwide. While I certainly hope for a financially successful fundraiser, it would be even greater if someone else decided to adopt.

Finally, we are still planning one more yard sale this year for some time in September. A good bit of stuff this time is coming from Tim's grandmother's former place. She recently moved in with my in-laws after a broken hip required a hip replacement, and she has graciously donated most of her stuff to us for the yard sale.

Update 2 of 3: 2nd Grade & Pre-K

2009-08-13T22:46:00.003-05:00

Colton is SO excited to be in 2nd grade. Here is a look at what we will be studying this year.

DiscipleLand 2 (All about the Bible...who wrote it, where did it come from, how do we use it...)
Math-U-See: Gamma (starts with multiplication, and he is LOVING it!)
Exploring Creation with Astronomy (already learned the planets in order as well as the names Copernicus and Galileo)
The Story of the World: The Middle Ages (Even Eli enjoyed the Beowulf excerpt this week.)
First Language Lessons 2 (grammar) (learned the being verbs this week)
The Complete Writer 2 (copywork, narration (summarizing), and dictation)
A Reason for Handwriting (handwriting practice...duh! He likes copying the Bible verses.)
Building Spelling Skills
The Learnables and Basic Structures: Spanish 2
A Beka Health 2
piano

I'm still trying to get Eli officially "excited" about pre-K. I'm only doing 2 subjects with him, even though he sometimes listens in on Colton's lessons. The plan is to do reading lessons on MWF and DiscipleLand (Old Testament stories) on TT. If we happen not to get to his schoolwork one day, though, we can easily do both subjects the next day.

Update 1 of 3: A Crazy Summer

2009-08-12T12:37:00.009-05:00

Wow! Summer has been so crazy! I haven't had time to catch my breath...much less update my blog. So I'm going to try to make 3 updates (hopefully all today) to get you caught up.

First pictures of vacation in Williamsburg, VA...

Colton and Eli in front of the Governor's Palace

My three boys

Can I get one of these at the gift shop?

How about two?

The Cousins - Don't mess with them!

At William and Mary

Okay, it wasn't all historical...and you have to have ice cream

for lunch at least once on vacation.

A hut at Jamestown

One of the ships at Jamestown

Put those boys to work!

A Crazy Week

2009-06-28T16:18:00.003-05:00

The last week has been a little crazy. Tim's grandmother recently broke her hip, and upon being released from the hospital, she moved in with Tim's parents. Last Monday, Tim's dad started running a fever. On Tuesday, they needed some Tylenol, and by the time I got to their house, Sondra was ushering David out the door to go to the doctor. They asked me to stay at their house until all of Granny's therapists left so I could lock up. I didn't feel right leaving Granny on her own. Several hours later David was admitted to the hospital, and we were temporarily moving in with Granny.

Wednesday, David was still in the hospital, Sondra was still staying with him, and we were spending another night with Granny.

Thursday, Sondra came home for several hours while we loaded a massive yard sale into a 6x8 covered U-Haul trailer to take to a friend's house for another fundraiser for our adoption. (It took two trips!)

Friday, I was up at the crack of dawn to go across town and set up the yard sale...VERY HOT! Spent another night with Granny.

Saturday, I was up at the crack of dawn again, crossed town again, and had day 2 of our sale...very hot...a brief drenching rain...very hot and steamy. After the sale, we help another couple load up all of our leftovers and haul them to their house for an adoption yard sale of their own. Now we will start all over planning for one more sale at the end of September. But David came home, so we got to go home to our own beds. The total from the sale was a little over $300. Yea!

Today, I'm tired and my house is a wreck from us just running in and out all week. I realize I promised you pics from vacation, but they are still in my camera. I hope to get to them very soon.

Parental Rights Amendment

2009-06-19T11:03:00.003-05:00

For those of you who haven't been following the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child, this treaty would seriously impact parenting in America. The title sounds nice, and they would have you believe that this is for the protection of children. Not true. This would give children the right to challenge ANY decision the parent makes (go to church, eat your vegetables, you're grounded). It would also give the government the right to impose their positions on our children and to remove our children from our homes if they don't like the values we teach them. For homeschoolers, we may not be allowed to homeschool without having some agency breathing down our necks and telling us what we can and can't teach. That totally negates one of the major reasons for homeschooling.

This treaty has already been ratified in a lot of countries, and there are a lot of bad precedents being set in those countries. If our country ratifies this international treaty, it will nullify all current state laws pertaining to families and would in essence take away our parental rights. The only document that trumps an international treaty is our own nation's constitution. This is why it is CRITICAL that we pass an amendment clarifying parental rights.

Please go to this website (ParentalRights.org). I've linked you to a page explaining "The Threat". Look also for links to "The Reason" and "The Solution". Sign up to receive their email updates as they monitor the situation. And if you have never contacted a member of Congress before, now is the time to hound your representative or senator and tell them they simply MUST support the Parental Rights Amendment and stop the UNCRC (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). Email them once or twice a week. Ask your friends to do the same.

I never intended for this blog to become something political, but the government is threatening Mama Bear's cubs. With that said, Hillary Clinton is a huge supporter of the UNCRC. With her sitting in such a high position, the threat is very real. We can't just expect that "things will work out". We have to do something to show our concern and which side we support.

Okay, I'm done. That's it. Next time -- a look back at our vacation.

Pie Chart, Party 2009, A New Name

2009-05-28T15:59:00.003-05:00

PIE CHART
I just noticed that I haven't updated the pie chart on the right in a while. We've had a few expenses as well as some additions lately, but the current chart still nets a good improvement. As you may recall, this chart definitely does NOT represent all the money needed to complete this adoption. But it does represent the amount we are shooting for to officially get started. We set a goal of $6000 to cover the home study, the first agency fee, and a lot of the miscellaneous costs incurred early on. We are now $605.27 away from that goal! Praise God! I think I have $5.27 in my pocket now. Anybody got $600? ; )

School lets out tomorrow, and Tim assures me that he is going to hit the paperwork hard for me...well, as soon as he catches his breath. It's been a tough last week of school. Just very, very busy. Then we should be ready to start sending things in.

PARTY-PARTY
Okay, at our age maybe we "have folks over" rather than actual partying. Whatever you want to call it, I'm launching our 2009 Party Contest. If you remember this from last year, the rules are the same. Click here to go to a full explanation on our website. This is such an easy way to make a big difference.

A NEW NAME
For the last several weeks, Tim and I have been discussing a name change for one of the girls. We've decided to change Maggie to Mattie. I don't want to go into our entire discussion here because I don't want to embarrass anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. For those of you who have adopted, you might confirm that I've heard that most of the time the husband needs a little convincing to get fully on board. Since Tim suggested this change, I took that as a very positive sign, that the girls have been on his mind lately as well as mine. I also like the fact that I can use this name to honor my dad's mother. I never knew her because she died of cancer at the age of 42 (before my parent's had even married). Her name was Bertha Matilda, and while I'm not prepared to use those exact names in 2009ish, I will certainly think of her often when I say Mattie.

5/21-22 Yard Sale

2009-05-23T20:35:00.002-05:00

We are so tired tonight, but all in all it has been a good yard sale weekend. Counting the rainy attempt a couple of weeks ago, we have raised $782. That's better than we averaged last year, so I'm tickled! I think we confused a lot of people with the "Donations Only" concept, and I'm afraid it didn't translate very well with the non-English or limited-English customers. We'll have to work on that for next time.

I did learn that the "Donations Only" tactic works better on the Friday crowd. They are your "professional" yard-salers. They know what things ought to be worth and either offer that or a little more. The Saturday crowd either gets nervous because they don't have a clue what to offer for an item (hint, hint...why do you think I hate to price things? I don't have a clue either!) or they expect nothing at a yard sale to be more than 25 cents. Even a couch or something. So when they hear they can just make an offer, they gather an armload and offer $2. For those of you wondering, yes...I took the $2. This was sort of an exercise in faith. I simply trusted that it would all balance out in the end. And if someone wants to look me straight in the eye and take advantage of our adoption, fine. God knows, and if they have any conscience left at all, they won't sleep well tonight. It balances with the grandmothers who shared their stories and give us "a little something extra 'cause I know how hard it is (to adopt)." One dear lady even came with pictures of her sweetie to encourage us that we were doing a good thing by adoption. Another bought just a couple of little things and gave me $40. So see? It worked out.

I'm ready now to clean out the leftovers and get rid of them. Then we will start fresh later in June.

Rain, Bunk Beds, and Summer Break

2009-05-18T19:04:00.006-05:00

We still have not had our yard sale yet. Two weekends ago, we set up in the garage "just in case" it rained any. Any? It rained most of the day. I found that even though we kept our stuff dry, PEOPLE don't get out in the rain to go to yard sales. DUH! Oh well, we made $40, and I had fun visiting with Cindy.

Last weekend the forecast called for a greater chance of rain than the previous weekend, so we decided (before even advertising) that we wouldn't even try. Yep. You guessed it. It was pretty most of the day. Granted, a nice storm came up earlier than we would have closed, but the sky turned black ahead of it. We could most likely have gotten everything put away in time after having been open a good 4-6 hours.

Another factor in skipping last weekend was that this coming weekend was looking promising...0% chance of rain. By Sunday, it was 10%. Monday 30% for Friday and 40% for Saturday. We've got to get this yard sale over with!!! : ) As each weekend has flopped, we have gotten more donations (yea!), and we can no longer walk through the garage to get into the house. We used to actually park there...both vehicles!

On a more exciting note, we have gotten bunk beds for the girls!! This is such an exciting step for us. I've noticed that we say things like "the girls' beds" and "the girls' room". I think this has made our adoption more real to some. It certainly has made it easier to talk about the adoption with some. I think that they figure if we are going to buy bunk beds just maybe we are serious about this adoption thing. Ya think?

Last thing... Colton has officially finished 1st grade! I think we have had a most productive year. I slipped a bit on getting him library books to read, but we've been reading a bunch in the last week or so, and he is doing very well. We still have a couple of DiscipleLand lessons to finish because we got behind and missed a day here or there, and we are going to continue history on into the summer because we didn't start until after Christmas (so we are a semester behind and I'd REEEALLy like to start second grade "on track"). I've already picked out what I need to purchase for next year, but the Homeschooling account is dry after purchasing classic literature on DVD-ROM and an ebook reader. (Yikes! but Cool!) We'll get to it eventually.

5/9 Yard Sale Update

2009-05-09T19:56:00.002-05:00

I guess you could say our yard sale went pretty well today--considering the fact that it rained and rained and rained. We had a few sunny/muggy moments. Then it would turn cool and rain some more. All in all, making ANY money on a day like today should be considered a success. Oh, how much, you wonder? Drum roll, please..........We made $40! (Crowds roar) Okay, that's not astounding, but it's $40 we didn't have yesterday. Plus, I got to spend the day with Cindy (my college roomie), and we met some folks who wanted to talk about adoption.

If I didn't mention it before, we decided to try a "Donations Only" sale. For the few items that sold, $40 is more than I would have priced them. So I think I really like doing it this way. Only once did I think someone offered too little, and it turned out they changed their mind and didn't take the item.

The next step is to pray really hard for pretty weather next weekend and do this again then. By having to set up inside our garage, I only had room for about 1/3 of the stuff we had (and still leave room to walk around). AND we still have 3 or 4 folks who wanted to donate, but we didn't hook up in time for this weekend. So, we're going to try to put everything out next weekend, make better signs, advertise better, etc., and see what we can do.

Yard Sale 2009

2009-04-30T21:29:00.002-05:00

It looks like we are finally ready to jump into another yard sale. We are going to do things a little differently this time. We are once again taking donations, but we didn't give folks an awful lot of warning. (It sorta snuck up on me, too.) We announced it to our church, and I'm putting it here. We also went today to a house not far from us. They had an adoption yard sale last weekend and offered their leftovers to us. So, we will take what we had left from last year plus anything else I've found in the house plus these leftovers plus anything new from our church family and put it all together for a Saturday Only yard sale on May 9. When this sale is over, we are getting rid of everything. Later this summer, we'll try to pull together fresh donations and maybe hit a few yard sales for their leftovers and do this all again.

The other thing that is different this year is that (if I don't chicken out) I want to try to do this as a "donations only" yard sale. A friend did hers this way recently and was very successful. I think what I hate most about yard sales is all the effort I put into coming up with a price only to have someone haggle with me over it. I just want to scream, "Do you have any idea what I went through to come up with THAT price?" Not pricing anything sounds very freeing to me.

So. If any of you out there in BloggerLand (and within driving distance) has anything you wish to donate. Let me know. We'll be glad to pick up from you as long as our van can handle it.

New Exercise

2009-04-22T12:17:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I walked into our living and saw this...

When I asked what they were doing, they said they were seeing who could keep their legs in the air longer. Hmm. Maybe it could catch on as some new kind of exercise. Ya think?

My Boys

2009-04-15T11:17:00.003-05:00

Now, don't take it personally when I say that my boys have got to be the most wonderful kids I know. (I hope you would say the same to me about your kids.) They are so close and protective of each other. They snuggle and love on each other. It's so sweet...until they start fussing and feuding again. Yes, they actually are normal kids, too.

Last Friday, we went to have our annual pictures taken. Birthdays are over for them for this year, so they are officially 7 and 4. I can't believe it! So here are my cuties...

Let's Get Moving

2009-03-23T19:13:00.002-05:00

Don't you hate waiting for a phone call or an email to come and then finding out that it never was going to come? Last Thursday night I was looking at a website (reputable, yes) which has photos of children around the world available for adoption. Quite often these children are the "hard to place" because of a medical condition, several siblings, or age. I ran across two profiles that caught my eye. These little girls were not sisters, but they were both listed as healthy with no developmental delays. Their ages were just right. Their birthdays were right around the same as my boys. Even their initials were K and M, just like the names we hope to use (Keely and Maggie). It was very late Thursday night, so I just sent off an email requesting some more information.

Keep in mind that I knew that at least one of the girls was not from Bulgaria. She looked Asian. Couple that with her "country" being listed as Eastern Europe, and I figured she was from Kazakhstan. Not our original plan, but who knows?

Friday came and went with no response to my email. I thought, "They could be closed on Fridays like the agency here in town." That meant that Saturday and Sunday were going to automatically be spent waiting and wondering. Monday, I still waited. Finally, in the late afternoon, I decided to call before they closed for the day. The first "problem" was that I was greeted with "Hello?" I instantly thought I had the wrong number. I asked if I had the agency...I did. It was a very strange phone call after that. She seemed to have recognized my name because she began talking about adoption in Kazakhstan even though I never mentioned which children I was calling about. Anyway, Kazakhstan has changed their policies somewhere along the way, and like Ukraine they no longer give referrals prior to travel. You are matched with a child after you get there. Bottom line, the profiles I saw are no longer valid, and the agency has simply never bothered to remove the listings... and apparently had no intentions of responding to my email.

To say the least it has been quite depressing this evening. Even in only a few days, my mind was showing those two girls here. My heart had already made room for them. My speech had already started including them in my conversations with Tim.

I do feel that we need to renew our plans with as much vigor as we can. As I thought about the possibility of beginning to pursue these girls right now, I was thrown into a bit of a panic. We aren't ready. We need to raise a little more money before jumping in. Once we jump, I'll be ready to pursue applying for every grant I can find.

I'm still working on a few Craigslist things. I've lost one bookkeeping client but have hopes of another. I have one fundraiser in the planning stages now with help from a friend at church. I would like to try the Party Night Out again. (I still think it is a great idea even if I didn't pull it off well last year.) Maybe I can "suck it up" and have another yard sale just as soon as the weather is more consistently warm. (Just not 102 like it was last year!) What do you think of a pie sale?

I still have bracelets for sale, and the pizza cards can go for $1. Any takers? I know the 4 of you who actually read my blog have got to be tired of my sales pitches...weak and ineffective as they may be. Do you have any suggestions for us? Another $1500 would be very comfortable. I'll even take bookkeeping or transcription jobs if you know of any. I've never been opposed to earning the money ourselves, but a homeschooling mom and a public school teacher just don't encounter sudden or significant raises or bonuses. (I knew I should have taken that job with AIG!!!)

Any input would be unbelievably welcome!

Check-ups and Heart Stirrings

2009-03-11T22:22:00.003-05:00

We are almost a month late, but Eli had his 4-year check-up today. His weight has always been an issue (underweight, that is). Just a couple of years ago, we were struggling to stay on the growth chart at the starting 3-6 percentile. At one point we didn't even make that! Last year we were excited to make the 12-15th percentile. Well, today we are celebrating the 25th percentile!! Now if we could just get him to eat consistently, we might be smack in the middle of the growth chart next year. Oh to be average! At least on weight.

Colton was excited to learn that he is old enough NOT to go every year. He was just an observer today...except for the shots. Colton doesn't do badly getting shots himself, but he can't handle watching his little brother get them. He is so afraid Eli will cry, and he doesn't want to be there for it. So he stepped out into the hall until we finished. But, Eli did great. He simply said, "Ouch. That hurt."

On a totally different topic, we've been going through the Old Testament on Sunday nights at church. Last week, we did Ezra. Right from the beginning, a phrase caught my attention. Paraphrasing, it said that God stirred their hearts to do His will. Whoa. Back up. Re-read. One more time. Now I don't expect burning bushes. (Listen to my last post.) But has my heart ever been stirred toward something? Yes. And I believe adoption to be one of those times. While I'm not comfortable saying, "God told me to adopt." I do feel comfortable saying, "God stirred my heart to adopt." As we've been doing for quite a while, we are still trying to iron out the details of exactly what doing His will looks like in this case. We would still love to adopt two sisters from Bulgaria, but the details are not just "falling into place". So we have to always consider adjusting the plan. It's kind of like turning a puzzle piece until it fits exactly where it needs to go.

So tell me, when has God stirred your heart?

Say It in Song

2009-02-12T19:42:00.009-06:00

I ran across this song the other day and thought it summed up how I sometimes feel.

Enjoy...

Birthday Season Begins

2009-02-01T16:41:00.004-06:00

Birthday season is upon us. February brings Eli's 4th. March will be my "somethingth". Colton will be 7 in April, and Tim will be older-than-me in May. We've been trying to plan Eli's birthday party, and February is a hard time. It will most likely be too cold or wet for the kids to go outside to play. As we began to look into having the party elsewhere, cost became an issue. So, we began to toy with a new idea. After looking carefully at Eli's guest list, we noticed that the list was almost identical to one Colton would make for his party. Since their birthdays are February and April, we decided to do one big party in March.

We've enjoyed for a while now doing their annual pictures in March as well. It makes me wonder when Keely and Maggie's birthdays will be. We aren't really any closer to bringing them home, and I'd be lying if I said that I'm not saddened and frustrated by that. I know that God is in control, though, and I trust that my girls will be home someday.

I'm almost halfway through my medical transcription course. It's not gone as quickly as I had hoped. The material I have studied so far has been very dry and monotonous. So, it doesn't call my name every spare moment like a good novel would. I just pray that I can push through the boring stuff and get finished. I'm also praying that God is already preparing work for me. All I have to do is find it.

Tim has been spending all of his spare time researching SUVs. His car is 19 years old and on its last leg. I do not like driving it anymore. Our search would be easier if we were only looking to seat the four of us, but it seems a waste not to go ahead and plan for 6. We would just have to get another vehicle when the girls come, or we would at least lose the convenience of being able to transport everyone in either vehicle.

Colton is surprising me with Spanish. He is also enjoying the history I added the second week of this semester. Eli is a character and doing well with reading when he wants to do a lesson. For now, I'm not pushing it if he doesn't. Let's keep it fun.

A New Year

2009-01-05T21:13:00.002-06:00

Happy 2009!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. I know I did. We got to spend lots of time with family. Then we ended the old year with new friends and started the new year by spending time with old friends. How cool is that?

And today, the reality check--back to school for us all. Colton started Spanish this semester (at his request), and he really did a great job with his first lesson. He and I are also going to begin a strength training program and a homemade walking program. I say "homemade" because in an effort to keep it fun, I'm simply letting him pick a TV show, and we will walk through it (in place or forward and back). Today as the first day, I let him walk until he wanted to stop. We made it 19 minutes. Now that we have a benchmark, we have to try to beat that time tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe Mom will benefit from this too.

Eli got a taste of school today as well. He has agreed to start reading lessons and was quite excited about it until today. When I got the book out, he suddenly changed his mind and didn't want to anymore. With a little coaxing and some "I just want to show you something," he got suckered into looking at the lesson and participating in it. In maybe 5 minutes, it was over. I don't know if he was more surprised that it was already over or that it had ever started in the first place. He agreed that it didn't hurt or anything and seemed to have had fun. For those of you who think I might be pushing him too much (he will be 4 in February), you need to understand that he already knows all of his letter sounds and can use the magnetic letters on the fridge to build words I sound out for him. He also often asks to do his Bible lesson with me. In other words, he wants some school time with Mommy like Big Brother gets.

Just yesterday Colton was asking again when Keely and Maggie are going to come. He is so anxious to have them here. Sometimes I worry how devestated he would be if we never raised the money to go and get them. It's been quite some time since we were able to add anything to the adoption fund. As much as I rethink everything, I still don't feel like God is saying "no" to the adoption. In the depths of my heart, I think I would be "messing up" if I quit the adoption efforts. But instead, I am trying to stay focused on the goal while at the same time seeing the snail's pace as God's timing. After all, God knows the best possible moment the girls will be ready and the best possible moment for us to travel and the best possible moment for us and the boys to be ready for them, etc.

As I always remind you, we still have bracelets and pizza cards for sale. At last check we have lost a good bit of money on the pizza cards. If there is any way you can buy one or take them to people where you work or something, it would help us out immensely.

Christmas Break

2008-12-20T11:31:00.008-06:00

Even as a homeschooler, Colton is very excited about Christmas Break. He can't believe that we won't do any school work for 2 whole weeks! I keep harassing him with questions like, "What's the matter? Don't you like your teacher?"

Eli...

December has been quite busy already. Eli's choir sang at church a couple of weeks ago. He was so excited to get to sing on stage. He went around singing his songs for us all week prior. He looked so cute dressed up as an angel with the other 3 and 4 year-olds. Then 2 minutes before the service started, he came running to the piano (where I was prepared to start playing the welcome song). He was crying for me to hold him. I held him through both of his choir's songs. He sang a little from my lap, but refused to get up on stage. It just about broke my heart because I knew how excited he had been and how in about 5 minutes it would all be over...possibly until next year. No second chances later in the service; no "redo" next week or next month. I tried frantically to get him to settle down and get on stage. I wasn't sure if he was just having a typicall "mommy meltdown" (which he does often) until he finally mentioned being scared. I guess stage fright really did get him after all. I had to apologize later for fussing at him to stop crying, and I made a big deal of telling him how proud I was of him for being in the choir and learning his songs and singing well during the rehearsal I saw.

Colton...

Colton's choir sang the following week (last week). I felt pretty certain that he was old enough to stick it out (he refuesed at Eli's age too), but now we had the extra anxiety over a solo. He had the entire first verse of "Joy to the World" all to himself. I was so scared he would get scared. But, he pulled it off like a trooper! Needless to say, I was so proud of him.

Then the week of losing teeth began. Tuesday night after going to bed, Colton got up with his mouth bleeding. One of his top front teeth looked really close to coming out. We worked on it for a while and reluctantly sent him back to bed. (The mom in me was naturally afraid it would come out in his sleep and he'd choke on it.) Wednesday we worked on it some more and nervously sent him to bed again with it still barely in his mouth. Thursday morning he was eating breakfast and suddenly spit his tooth out in his hand and handed it to me. We got all excited, took pictures for the Christmas card, and went to Memaw's house so she could see his missing tooth. In retrospect, I did notice that the other top front tooth looked a little funny. It seemed to be at a slightly odd angle. Losing the first must have freed up space for the other to loosen a little. Then just after supper, my 3 children (Tim included) were wrestling while I cleaned up the kitchen. Yep, Eli's foot and Colton's mouth made contact. He came in the kitchen holding his mouth. I asked to see it, and when he moved his hands, there was blood everywhere. After rinsing the blood away, I could tell the top of his tooth was pointing left and the bottom was pointing right. I'm thinking, there is no way I can send him to bed with this one. So, for the next 2 or 3 hours we sat on the couch watching TV while I wiggled his tooth back and forth or in circles and twisted it 4 or 5 full turns in each direction. As bedtime approached, he went to eat a snack. Once again, he stopped mid snack to hand me his tooth. So two teeth in one day! Naturally, we had to retake the Christmas card picture Friday morning. You can't send out a picture with one missing tooth when there are now two missing teeth!

Now, we head into the weekend for my choir's Christmas program. I've been sick with a sinus infection/cold/throat mess/cough for about a week. I'm hoping it will leave at least long enough for the program. I can be sick again next week, but I just don't have time right now.

Let me end with a few prayer requests for you...

Anna Grace is recovering from having her tonsils and adnoids removed.
Debbie had her baby yesterday/today (a girl) 3 months early.
Keely and Maggie need to come home to us. All we need is the money to go get them. (Paperwork is slow when the money isn't there to back it up when finished.) Pray that I can finish my medical transcription course and get some work right away.

Give Thanks

2008-11-25T19:41:00.003-06:00

I know everyone is making their "Thankful List", but here is mine anyway. I wouldn't dare rank my list of things I am thankful for, so in no particular order, here we go...

1. Jesus Christ, my Savior
2. The Christian home I was raised in; the Christian home I have now
3. My Godly (and handsome) husband Tim
4. My beautiful and long-prayed-for children and the hope of more to come
5. My country (in spite of its faults, it is still the best...not perfect, but great...etc)
6. My church and our new pastor and his family
7. My house is warm, sturdy, and leak free
8. We have two vehicles that are currently running.
9. I can homeschool.
10. I bought groceries this week even though there was still food in the house.
11. My family and I are healthy.
12. Our closets overflow.
13. I have all five of my senses.
14. Music
15. Breezes
16. Bats (Okay, that's for Colton. We've been studying them, and he thinks they are the coolest.)
17. All of creation, really.
18. Sleep
19. Friends
20. Our neighborhood

Every night we have family prayer time just before going to bed. As we have taught our kids to pray, we didn't want them to sit down with their updated Wish List and run through it. So, we've really not taught them yet how to ask for things. What kid needs to be taught how to ask for something he wants!? Instead, we focus on being thankful. Even if they don't feel like praying, we prod them to at least say Thank You for one thing. I prompt Eli this way..."Dear Jesus, thank you for..." and then I encourage him to think of something on his own or I suggest things like being thankful for his brother or for something he got to do or for friends visiting.

This past Sunday our pastor challenged us to begin our prayer time with thankfulness and thanking God for everything we could think of. I looked at Tim and mouthed, "We'd never get the kids to bed." It's true. The entire Internet would be depleted of space, if I listed everything that I am thankful for present and past. The list above is a mere sliver of how my heart thanks God. I truly try to thank him in "all things" as the Bible says.

I don't always understand his ways, but I do trust that he is always in control and can work any situation to our good and His Glory. I don't understand why my years in education were miserable ones, but I'm sure there was a reason for that experience. Maybe it has simply made me a better homeschooling mom and more understanding of my husband who is still in the educational trenches. I don't understand why my dad had to have cancer or why he is already in Heaven, but I do thank God for showing us a miracle when He healed the cancer, and I thank God that Dad lived 14 more years after being given about 6 months.

I don't understand why Tim and I have such a desire to be generous to others and yet our bank account won't exactly support the habit. Or why we have the desire to open our home and our hearts and our lives to two little girls, and yet the funds to make it happen aren't exactly pouring in. But God's ways are not our ways. We have human minds that are limited to understanding things in this world. As long as we live on this earth, we can never completely understand God's ways. We know Him and love Him, but there is always more to Him. I'm glad He's the one in complete control...I know I don't want the job.

Oh! I just thought of a new one. I'm thankful for bloggers. It has been so cool to follow blogs of other people I know (and stay caught up) or to read blogs of people I meet (as a quick way of getting to know them) or to find blogs of people in various stages of adoption (so I can learn from their experiences or ask questions).

So, thank YOU for reading this and have a sincerely thankful Thanksgiving. And even after the turkey is gone, try a little experiment. Thank your spouse for even the little things. ("Thanks for getting the kids' coats on them." "Thanks for getting the mail.") Teach your kids thankfulness by expressing thanks to them ("Thanks for picking up your towel." "Thanks for coming when I called you.") When you are comfortable saying "thank you" at home, try randomly thanking people each day outside of the home. Thank the janitor at work for keeping the bathrooms clean. (You didn't have to do it!) Thank the store clerk when she gives you your receipt. Ladies, please thank a man if he opens a door for you! Encourage them to continue showing courtesy. Just think, if we spent our time being thankful, would we have as much time to criticize?

Starting the Paperwork

2008-11-16T21:34:00.004-06:00

It looks like we are going to change agencies after all. We will be using Christian World Adoptions as our placing agency and Heaven Sent Children as our home study agency. I believe this will be better since HSC is local, and CWA is a lot less expensive (but still with plenty of credentials, experience, etc.)

I have been working on the paper work sent to us from HSC. I hope to finish it by Thanksgiving. We are still short on the fundraising, so I'm not sure when I will be able to send it in. I had wanted to finish the homestudy before applying with CWA so that we could go ahead and start applying for grants, but it looks like we may have to also show that we are clients of a placing agency when we apply for those grant.

I know the entire adoption process is mostly about waiting, but I'm getting so impatient about waiting to start waiting. It is so frustrating (and almost down right depressing) when I realize that we began researching adoption over 18 months ago. If we had started something then, we might actually have a referral by now, or better yet we might have our girls home. Why does it have to be so difficult just to get started? I keep praying that once in the process things will pick up--fundraising will be easier, maybe I'll be doing some medical transcription by then, the process will miraculously not be as lengthy or difficult by then, etc.

Please pray that I will be able to stay focused and get each step systematically completed as quickly as possible.

The Happy Post

2008-10-31T14:32:00.003-05:00

I promised you a "happy" post this time, so I'm going to start with Halloween. We never bothered with Halloween until moving to our current neighborhood. Colton was too young to care before that, and Eli wasn't here yet. When we moved here, though, we discovered the child-like fun of Halloween. The kids will dress up this evening. I will take my place on the porch steps with a big box of candy. All the neighbors sit on their porches or in their driveways to give out candy. Tim and the boys will roam down one side of the street and back up the other. When the candy begging is done, we will gather with a bunch of neighbors next door for a cookout.

On the adoption front, please be in prayer. I am still re-researching agencies. I thought we were all settled, but I'm not so sure any more. One is way more expensive than the others. Does that necessarily mean better or that the others have hidden fees? Another is only 4 years old. Maybe they have more passion because they are fresh, or maybe they lack experience. One tells us that Bulgaria is reluctant to allow 2 children to be adopted at the same time because there are so many families wanting to adopt. I don't think I buy into the "one per customer" theory. Another tells us that Bulgaria will adopt 2 children as long as they are siblings. Another won't let us request siblings. Still another agency says you can adopt 1 child, siblings, or 2 unrelated children. It is so HARD to sort through it all. And this is not something that a person can already instinctively know something about. As has happened several times now, I think I am zoning in on an agency to choose. My prayer right now is for wisdom and discernment.

On yet another topic, have you ever read "This Present Darkness"? If you haven't, you absolutely must. First let me say that yes, I realize it is fiction. On the other hand, (to those who have read it), don't you think there's a chance that prayer works that way? It makes sense to me. Okay, for those who haven't read it yet (and I'm not going to spoil the story), here is an idea what I am talking about. The basic story line is realitively simple: a bad guy is taking control of a town. Told you it was simple. The twist is that one minute you are reading about the bad guys or the people in the town, but the next minute you see the spirtual side of the unfolding drama. Angels fighting for good. Demons trying to take people down. Now here's the best part. The angels are not allowed to fight on the offensive unless they have enough strength to win. Where do they get their strength? The prayers of "the saints." So if the Christians aren't praying enough, the angels can't fight. When the Christians are praying, the angels are unbeatable.

Now, I say all of that not just to recommend a good book but to make a point as well. Early voting has ended. Only one day of voting remains. All you can physically do is cast your vote. But that's not ALL you can do. Everyone says, "Pray for the election." Everyone says, "It's okay. God is in control." Yes, I believe God is in control. That doesn't mean He won't let America collectively do something stupid. Yes, He can work all things together for good with either choice. But I also really believe we need to make sure that the angels working this side of the globe have our constant prayer support. I say this to me as much as anyone. Let's see if we can get beyond, "Lord, be with the election," or "Let your will be done in this election." We need to cry out to God about this election and many other aspects of our nation right now. Whether the end times are imminent or still a thousand years away, our nation as a whole is not glorifying God. We need to take that back. I'm concerned about what kind of nation we are leaving to our children. It is already so much harder to raise my children in this time period because it seems like a huge chunk of society has no concept about the things in my value system. If we would take the focus off of self and turn it back to God where it belongs, we would see many areas of society that would suddenly be corrected. Are you ready to fight for what you believe in?

Just Wondering Out Loud

2008-10-18T21:53:00.004-05:00

As you may have noticed, I've not done a lot of updating on our adoption. That's because we have come to a painfully grinding halt. There is a sweetheart of a lady at church who brings us 5-10 dollars almost every week where she has sold a couple more of our pizza cards. That's as fast as the money is getting raised. Do the math. Even at $10 a week (and counting the money we've already raised), it will take us 78 YEARS to raise this money. I think we can all agree that I'll be too old by then.

I know our God is in control. I know our God can literally do anything. I know our God still does miracles today...I've personally witnessed a few. I know that if God wanted, He could just add $45,000 to our bank account right now, and I'd find it in the morning. But I also know that God allows His people to have free will. And He often gives people an opportunity to participate in what He is doing. If they choose not to participate, He will either accomplish His will through someone else (allowing them to receive the blessing), or He will allow the mission to go unfulfilled.

Now, when there are 143 million orphans in the world, I can't help but think that if I don't adopt my 2 girls, then there will be two more girls who never get adopted. After all, there is not a waiting list for all children.

I hope you aren't hearing whining here. I'm not. I'm frustrated, yes. I don't feel we've gotten the emotional or financial support that I had anticipated. I still feel the need for more children. I still feel called to adopt. Because of the major lack of financial resources, we are rethinking our adoption plans. We're back at square one, you might say...saying "yes" to adoption but trying to figure out the details. We wanted to adopt 2 girls from Bulgaria. Maybe we need to reconsider international and look at domestic. Maybe a different agency would be less expensive. Maybe we should try to adopt just one (at least for now). How old can we be and still get this done? Should we reconsider the age range or other details of the child we seek?

I'm reminded of a story from the Bible. (I can't give you the reference because I'm doing this off the top of my head. But I think I have all of my facts straight.) Remember when Moses sent the 12 spies to check out the land up ahead. I forget what nation they spied on, but they came back with 10 negative reports. Only two men (Joshua and Caleb) said that the Israelites should move forward and take the city. God's plan was for them to take the city. Joshua and Caleb agreed, but most people were not supportive. Did God go ahead and take the city anyway? Did God send someone else to defeat the city? Did God let Joshua and Caleb take the city and everyone else just missed out on the victory? No, the entire nation (Joshua and Caleb included) were punished by having to wander another 40 years before coming back to this point and taking the city after all. Do you see the correlation? Just because God can cause His will to happen in spite of our disobedience, it doesn't mean He will. Even if He brings us back to this point 40 years from now, it will be too late for us to do the adopting. As I said, I know God can move $45,000 our way in a heartbeat, but if we don't pick up our fundraising participation (or find a fundrasier that actally does all that it claims), it may never get done.

Can I just stop here and turn this into a prayer request? We are praying for clear direction in every step of the process. We are praying for increased income so that we will qualify to adopt two. We were close at one time, but the babysitting ended. Right now I am enrolled in a course on medical transcription. Hopefully this will be one way to work on that income thing. Finally, we are praying for direction on fundraisers. It seems like most of what we have tried so far has not been very successful. We still have more than enough bracelets and pizza cards for sale. We are praying to be surrounded by people who understand our desire and support us. We are praying to come into contact with people who have been moved to help out. I know people adopt all the time. It can't be this hard for every family who adopts.

Tune in next time for a "happy" post. ; )

Vacation Time

2008-10-11T19:29:00.004-05:00

Our vacation is officially over. : ( We decided back in February that we would use Tim's Fall Break as a chance to take the boys to Florida. They've never seen the beach before. Of course, they would have been happy in a town of 400 with nothing "to do" for 600 miles around as long has the hotel had a pool. Still, they loved the beach! And they were so good about the drive. I was so tempted to see if we could borrow a portable DVD player or buy a cheap one. But we survived another vacation drive without it. They took a few toys, their DSes, coloring books, and white boards. They took a nice long nap going and coming, we looked for water towers, and I even read aloud a little bit.

Their favorite activities would have been running on the beach, swimming in the indoor pool, and pushing the buttons on the elevator. My favorite activity was eating out. We decided to spend most of our money on eating out rather than local attractions because we figured the kids would mostly want to swim anyway.

Here's the view from our room...

Here are the kids. Colton is enjoying a pop-up sun shade that one of our neighbors loaned us while we were loading up the van. (I love our neighborhood.)

A New Pursuit and New Pets

2008-09-28T22:04:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about how to bring in more income. I'm enjoying the bookkeeping, but I only have a couple of clients, and I don't have time for "pounding the pavement" trying to find new clients. Also, every client's situation is so different from everyone else's, and while I want to do bookkeeping only and no taxes (in spite of the fact I took a tax class), the two are so interwoven it's crazy. So, while I hope to keep my "couple of clients", let's see what else I can do...

That brought me to considering medical transcription. I've seen so many ads for medical transcription, that I begain to think it must be a scam or something. And some of the ads could have been. But the field itself is legit. I've talked with a few people with medical jobs and done a lot of research on the Internet. Now I have signed up for a course, and I'm very optimistic about pursing this. I'll let you know how it goes. If you have any personal insights, please pass them along.

Onto the pets. You'll remember that we recently named a hummingbird who has adopted our yard. Kylene is still doing well, but I expect her to head south soon. Last Friday night, though, was the Fall Festival at Tim's former school. Since this was the first year he didn't have to work it, we took the boys and simply attended. Colton arrived intent on winning fish. We found the booth that was giving fish away as prizes. He got 5 balls to throw at a bucket. For every shot he made, he would win a fish. But he missed all 5 shots. Naturally, Eli wanted to play since his brother did. Being smaller, he got to stand behind a piece tape that was closer to the bucket. He made 2 of his shots! Colton seemed to take it well from the very beginning, and Eli generously agreed that Colton could have one of them. So now we have 2 goldfish: a gray one named Nemo and an orange one named Yoda. The boys were spending the night with Memaw that night anyway, but Tim and I were up quite late as we headed for the pet store and Wal-Mart to buy a fish tank, fish food, and all the accessories we would need. We had already decided that if these two went belly-up, we would let the boys just go pick out some more fish. So far they are doing very well and actually seem happy in their new home.

Don't forget:

I still have bracelets for $8.
We have cut the price of the pizza card from $10 to $5. (Remember, you could easily save over $200 with these cards.)

One Step at a Time

2008-09-19T21:18:00.003-05:00

The other day I was watching Adoption Stories. Colton came in, mentioned Keely and Maggie, and asked me who gave them their names. I said that we had chosen them. He said, "Well, what are their real names?" I told him I didn't know. As he left the room, he said, "Who knows? Maybe they're twins." I sat looking after him a moment and thought, "I hadn't really thought of that. Could be."

You know, I realize that the current economic situation in our country has affected probably everyone. Sometimes I think we really picked a bad time to try to raise or even save the money to do this, but I figure there is a reason that this is our time. After all, all of those kids around the world aren't going to just stop being orphans until there are more families adopting again.

On a deeper note, as much as I feel the need to adopt, I often find myself caught in a neverending list of questions that are supposed to pass as my prayer time. Why is fundraising being so difficult? Do you really think we can do this? Now or maybe later? Bulgaria or maybe you meant somewhere else? I felt confident with each decision when we made it, but when those decisions don't lead to a bunch of open doors, I start second guessing myself. Maybe I missed something. Maybe I misunderstood the details. Maybe we've got some part of this heading down the wrong path. I start asking God for answers. "Just tell me...clearly...without question what you want me to do." I think the problem is that I'm wanting the big picture, and God wants me to focus on the next step only and trust Him for the rest.

Let me illustrate this from my own day (any day) with Colton. We sit down to do a math lesson. (It could be any subject.) I open the book to today's worksheet. Colton starts flipping the pages to see what is on the next page...10 pages later. "Colton, don't worry about what's next. Just focus on what's in front of you." We sit down to read science. He asks, "What are we going to after science?" "Um. Math I guess." "Are we going to Memaw's after lunch?" "Honey! Please just focus on science right now. Don't worry about what we are doing later."

I was thinking tonight that maybe I should listen to myself a little more closely. "Lord, do You want us to do this or that? If this, do You want it this way or that way. You know, it would be cool if we blah, blah, blah." "Libby, honey, quit worrying about what to do next. Just take care of the task I have placed in front of you. You can't get to the next step without this task anyway. Trust me."

On to new "stuff"...I am looking into taking a course in medical transcription. I've done some research into it, and I've talked with a few people in the medical field. So far, everything sounds promising. I'm not looking for "get rich working from home," but I would love to get beyond thinking about gas and food prices. Besides, as I've probably mentioned before, we fall short of qualifying to adopt 2 children since I stopped baby-sitting. The added income would not only qualify us for both girls, but it would help us save for expenses as well. If you know someone who is a transcriptionist or uses a transcriptionist, ask them to send me all the info they know.

Current efforts to raise money...

Throw a party
Bracelets ($8)
Pizza cards ($5 now)
Bookkeeping job for Libby
Transcription of any kind for Libby

We're still here

2008-09-11T15:50:00.003-05:00

Wow. Has it really been that long since I updated my blog? I guess things just got busy. Let's see, we are all working hard being back at school. That keeps us all plenty busy. School is going well for Colton and me. As I mentioned before, it takes up a lot more time for 1st grade than it did for kindergarten...but it is time very well spent. We went to the library last week, and the kids loved it. Eli got his own library card. As we were leaving, he was holding and admiring his new card and said, "I never thought you'd get me a liberry card." I guess he's been waiting all 3 years of his life for this moment. Tim is liking his new school and situation for the most part. (It is still school, after all.)

We also had major issues with our 18 month-old water heater. Tim decided to take a few minutes to drain it so he could replace the drain valve at the bottom. (See, it came with no threads to attach a hose for draining, and we didn't notice until it was installed and filled. Who'd think you had to check something like that!) Anyway, the old valve refused to come off. Tim spent all day trying to drain it (it had filled with sediment again), and finally had to have a plumber come out on a Saturday (of Labor Day weekend) to remove the valve. After a LOT of effort, he gave up as well. With the water heater drained and the valve partially off, we had to leave the water turned off to the house and move to my in-laws' until Tim could call the company on Tuesday (Labor Day weekend, remember?). He finally got us all fixed up by late Tuesday night with yet another brand new water heater.

Colton almost has a pet. Since we have been studying birds in science, I bought 2 bird feeders. I put one with seed in the front yard, and a hummingbird feeder with sugar water in the back yard. Almost immediately we had hummingbirds. One little female in particular has staked claim to our feeder. She spends most of the day perched on the wire around Tim's tomato plants or in a nearby tree. Anytime another hummingbird heads for the feeder, she chases it off. Colton has named her Kyleen (Kylene?), and we've all had a lot of fun watching her.

Oh, a note about the pizza cards. Since they do have a 1 year expiration date (and we are a little less than that now), we're selling them for $5 each. This is a good time to get some cheap stocking stuffers.

On the adoption topic, we don't have a lot new. We're still working on paperwork. I've got to schedule our physicals soon and gather some official documents. We haven't been in a super huge hurry because we are still waiting for a little more money to come in first. Once we have the home study complete, though, we can start applying for grants. I do have a few fundraisers in the planning stages, so stay tuned. I understand that a lot of people still do not understand why we want to adopt, especially since we already have kids. On the one hand, I'd like to argue that no one questioned why we had Eli when we already had Colton. Had we chosen to get pregnant again, would we be facing resistance? Why is this any different? Just because we have chosen to combine our desire for a larger family with the need of two children without a home. Is that so terrible? Anyway, stepping down from my soapbox, let me recommend the show Adoption Stories. I don't think it comes on regularly but rather in spurts, and I think it comes on Discovery Health. It has been so cool seeing families united with their children. Sometimes it has been sad to see the conditions at the orphanages. I think of Keely and Maggie, and I pray that they are in comfortable conditions with caretakers who actually care about them, not just for them. Then I still pray that they won't have to stay there much longer.

Pizza Challenge & GREAT News

2008-08-24T15:45:00.004-05:00

Okay, folks. Our fundraising has hit a dry spell. I'm asking you to take our pizza challenge. What you do is buy one pizza card (Papa John's, remember?). Then you show this to a few friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives, enemies, whatever. Try to get at least 4 other people to buy one. You can email me how many you need, call me, or even order from the "store" section of our website. I will mail the cards to you at no extra cost.

On another note, last week was most exciting. Colton accepted Christ as his Savior. He has been asking questions for a little over two years. Recently, I wrote a little booklet that was based strictly on the Roman Road but in words that I knew he could read himself if he wanted. We read through that a week or two ago, and it did prompt a very good discussion. I know some people may question the conversion of a 6 year-old, but they weren't here to witness what I did. He was very serious and sincere as he prayed asking God to take charge of his life, and he was on "cloud 9" for at least the next 24 hours. He has now taken to discussing God with his little brother.

We've added a new twist to our homeschooling. Tim's sister is the children's ministry director at her church. She just purchased a new curriculum for all of the children's Sunday school classes called DiscipleLand. In a nutshell, their goal is to disciple kids...not just entertain them or rehash the same 10 Bible stories from 2-12 year-olds. It looked so good, I ordered the curriculum to use at home with Colton. Then, so Eli wouldn't feel left out, I ordered a couple of the pre-school books as well.

Something NEW on my blog... Did you notice the Blogarithim box is missing above this message? I was having some issues with it. The link above will allow you to subscribe to my blog. This way, instead of checking here every day, my updates will be emailed to you. It's really cool. I have about 4 blogs that I have emailed to me whenever they are updated. It makes it super easy to stay connected. I encourage you to sign up. I'm hoping I won't have to change it again, but if no one signs up, I won't know how well it works. Please give me feedback.

Another One Back to School

2008-08-13T21:18:00.004-05:00

Tim is now officially back in school...another stressful week in the world of teaching. Let me start this update with a prayer request: Tim's school needs probably less than 10 more 6th graders. Right now, while Tim is still teaching science, he (and every 6th grade teacher) has to teach one section of reading. With about 10 more students, the county would have to hire one more teacher so that the classes would not be overcrowded. That teacher would take all of the reading classes leaving Tim teaching only science---stress level goes down about 6 notches.

Colton is amazing me with what he is learning in 1st grade. So far, I love all of the books I chose for us to study. Every once in a while, I think it is going to pile up on him, but he is the proverbial sponge that generally describes this age. He just soaks it all up. Now don't get me wrong. We are not the Homeschoolers Poster Family. He does really well academically, but we're still working on staying on task and not being so easily distracted. I'm working on not getting so frustrated that I think I'm going to burst a vein or something. He is enjoying his first spelling book, and he has already memorized a poem in grammar. He wasn't supposed to even try to recite if for about another week, but we've read it several times, and he wanted to try today. He didn't miss a word. We have a scavenger hunt tomorrow in science that he is really looking forward to doing. If we can't find all of the items here, we will have another excuse to go to Memaw's for the afternoon.

Eli has been working on a project of his own this week...potty training. When he turned 3 (back in February), we put him in Pull-ups. In a couple of days, he had the hang of No. 1. He would come and tell us whenever he needed to go. No. 2 was a whole 'nother issue. Then he was sick with a cold for a few days and quit. A few weeks went by, he caught on again, and then he quit again. We tried rewards, stars, lectures, guilt trips, and punishments of various kinds. He didn't care about any of it. The only information we could get from him was that using the potty was "boring". I wasn't about to entertain him with a song and dance routine every time he had to go. I even tried just putting him in underwear so that he would find accidents unpleasant. Not unpleasant enough. Maybe it was because I put those vinyl covers over the underwear because I didn't want to be cleaning up the carpet. At one point, I declared I was through trying to train him--He could just stay in pull-ups and let his future wife deal with him! It's not like I have to get him ready for public school! Well, Monday I decided to try one more tactic. When I took his pajamas off, I put him in a shirt and underwear (no cover). I took the bath mat out of the bathroom, gave him a towel to sit on, gave him a couple of coloring books and toys, and told him that he was not to leave the bathroom. He had on real big-boy underwear, and if he needed to go he could either let it run down his leg, get on the potty, or call me to help him get on the potty. I then moved Colton's little school table to just outside the bathroom, and we had school there. Eli was very agreeable about staying in there. He did perfectly all day, but had no No. 2. The second day we conquered that and began leaving the bathroom more. (He was also promised a trip to Memaw's if he ever did No. 2.) Today I let him wear shorts over his underwear and kept asking him every few minutes if he needed to go. Every so often I would just take him if he hadn't been in a while. So, 3 days in underwear with no accidents...and he even went to church tonight without switching back to pull-ups. I hope I haven't jinxed myself by telling this, but he has done so well. The funniest thing was when Memaw called Granny Clayton so he could tell her how big he is now. When he got off the phone, he came to me and asked, "Am I 4 now or 5." I told him no, and he said sadly, "I'm still 3?" I said yes but that it was now a BIG boy 3. That made it all better. We then thought to tell him he was now 3 and a half. (He will be this week.)

Nothing new on the adoption. I started working on paperwork today, and it really does begin to overwhelm quickly. I'm going to have to make little bite-sized piles for Tim. If I pace him, maybe it won't be too stressing to do in addition to all of his school work.

Getting Ready for School

2008-08-01T16:15:00.003-05:00

I didn't realize it has been over a week since I last updated. I know you've just been on pins and needles wondering what has happened in the latest episode of our lives. Not a lot to report on the adoption front. We have raised a little bit more money, so I hope to update the pie chart soon...after I double check my numbers.

I've been busy trying to clean up from the yard sales. We donated a ton of stuff to the Salvation Army, and I've been putting some of the items on Craigslist. Tim has been working out at his school trying to get ready for the new year. I've been rounding up materials and books and laying out my lesson plans for Colton. It looks like 1st grade is going to be a lot more involved than kindergarten was, but I'm excited and he seems to be excited, too. Subjects include New Testament, spelling, writing, grammar, math, science, health/safety/manners, and piano. See what I mean? When I list it out, it seems like an overwhelming amount. But when you look at an individual lesson, most of them are quite short. I'm so glad we finished his reading book this week so I wouldn't have to schedule that in as well. I'm planning to hit core subjects hard Monday through Thursday. Then on Friday, he'll finish the week's spelling with a test, and we'll do another science lesson. But unlike the other days, this is the day we will also cover the health/safety/manners lesson, have a piano lesson, read library books, and have a time of singing songs. I'm also going to read a longer book to them on Fridays. For our first book, Colton chose the children's classic version of "The Swiss Family Robinson." I read this one to him last year, but apparently he liked it. If you are interested in what curricula I use, check out our website under Homeschooling. I don't have it posted right now, but I will be updating my curriculm list very soon.

Stay tuned for more exciting episodes from our family.

Agency Meeting 1 & Yard Sale 2

2008-07-21T08:59:00.007-05:00

On Thursday we had our first meeting with Miriam's Promise to go over the application packet and ask questions. It was exciting to think that we had finally taken a step closer to actually being in the process...which is also a step closer to bringing Keely and Maggie home. It was a little stressful to know that some big payments are looming very closely on the horizon. I would really like to have saved above and beyond those first two big payments before we get going, but I know God will provide as we need it.

On Friday we began weekend #2 of our yard sale. Friday was quite slow compared to both days last weekend. We ended the day a little discouraged and very much in prayer. See, back when we were planning just a one-day sale, I had prayed that if we were on the right track (adopting at all, adopting 2 girls, choice of agency, etc.), we would raise $1000 through the yard sale. It was beginning to look like maybe something was wrong. Then Saturday came. We were so busy! Items that had been sitting there since day one were selling. Of course, items that I thought were hot were not selling. As we closed for the day, and I began counting the money, I remembered an envelope of yard sale related money that came in prior to actually starting the first day of selling. With this envelope plus 4 days of yard sales, our grand total raised was $1015.70! I believe we are on track.

We still have a long way to go. We are at about $3900 today. Enough to start the home study, but remember the adoption is supposed to run about $45,000. That doesn't include things like our physicals, requesting vital records, and maybe even our travel to Bulgaria (twice). It also doesn't include buying beds and furniture, bedding, clothes for two, etc. We still need to raise lots of money, and we still need your help to do it. Here are some ideas of ways you can help. Feel free to change them to suit you.

>Bracelets and pizza cards are (as usual) still for sale. Buy a pizza card and show it to your friends. They are only $10, and you save more than that the first time you use it.

>The Party Fundraiser is a fun idea. Have a party, and ask each guest to donate $10.

>Get a group (like your Sunday School class or any group you are in) to do a fundraiser for us. Have a doughnut sale, a car wash, a yard sale of your own, sell candy bars, anything.

>Be cleaning out the house. We are 90% sure we will be having another yard sale in the fall. Since we are donating most of the things that were leftover this time, we will need a fresh new round of donations next time.

>I would love to hear from you if you have other ideas for fundraisers that we can do ourselves or that we can suggest to others.

I know that everyone doesn't feel led to adopt a child and bring him or her into their family. Some people simply can't because of various circumstances. But the Bible does teach us that we are all supposed to do our part to help widows and orphans. By supporting our adoption, you are helping two orphans to be united with a family who will not only take care of them but will love them and share Christ with them as well. With an estimated 143 million orphans in the world, I can't possibly adopt them all (the house does have its limits), but I sure do want to do everything I can to rescue 2 of them.

THANK YOUs

A big huge "thank you" goes out to all of you who donated to our yard sale. We felt blessed just that you cared enough to donate. Then your stuff sold and helped our adoption fund. Thanks to Cindy for sitting in the heat with us for 2 of the 4 days. Also, thanks to Brent, Ty, Albert, Jean, Jennifer, Timothy, and Charles for also spending time keeping us company. Thank you, Annette, for bringing your 4 kids to the sale and leaving with 5. I know Colton had more fun at your house than he was having here. Thank you, Memaw, Grandpa, and Granny, for keeping the boys for 3 days and 2 nights during this second weekend of selling. Thanks to our church members who stopped by to shop or just to see how it was going. Finally, thanks to everyone who came: those who shopped, those who donated, and those who encouraged us with their own adoption stories.

Yard Sale Weekend #1

2008-07-13T13:49:00.002-05:00

Whew! I am still so tired. It was hot, it was muggy, and we were busy. The response we got was even greater than we expected. Sales were good, but there were many more blessings that came from the sale. We met several new neighbors; we had several people tell us that their children were adopted or their spouse or they themselves; we had people pay more than we were asking; we had people make donations without buying anything; and we even had one lady come back the second day with a few nice donations to add to the sale. Over the course of the two days, we raised $500! It almost makes me excited that we are doing this again next weekend. Just kidding, I really am looking forward to it. If any of you live in our area and have items you could donate, please let us know. We will be glad to pick them up.

On the job front, I am searching even more for new bookkeeping clients. My baby-sitting days are now behind me (sniff, smile). As for Tim, please continue to pray for him. He feels like he has a new direction he would like to go, but he isn't exactly sure what it is.

On a cuter note, yesterday we brought two of the kids' friends home with us for a while--a brother and sister. We weren't sure if we would know what to do with girl but figured we needed the practice. On the way to our house amidst the noise of chatter behind us, we hear the word "princess" float to the front of our van. We looked at each other funny...not a word we normally hear.

Here We Are

2008-07-07T08:04:00.003-05:00

This is our official family photo for our adoption application. Not bad for grabbing someone after church and saying, "Will you take our picture?"

VACATION
We just got back from our "mini-vacation". We went to Crossville for a week. Tim's folks have a trailor at Fairfield Glade, and his sister lives in Crossville. So we spent the week sleeping at FG and spending almost every waking moment with Beth and her family. One surprising moment was when we took the kids to the pool, and I met a lady there with her husband and 3 daughters. As she put it, one daughter was "home grown", one was from China, and one was from the Philippines. The youngest (from the Philippines) had just turned 2 the day before and had been home for 1 year. They were so precious.

YARD SALE
The yard sale begins this weekend! We are planning to be open Friday and Saturday this weekend as well as Friday and Saturday of next weekend. We have a lot of stuff, but if you have any items you would like to donate, that would be great. Let us know so we can plan to pick it up or be here for you to drop it off. In addition to actual yard sale items, we are going to have our pizza cards (more later), and I still want to have snacks like maybe candy bars and bottled water. Anyone have a suggestion on that?

PIZZA CARDS
If you like pizza (especially Papa John's), you've got to get one of our pizza cards. We decided to claim one as our own and use it while we were in Crossville. Yes, they honored it. We can officially say these are accepted outside of the Murfreesboro area. We saved $11.38 (for a large 1-topping). The card already paid for itself. Let's see...if you got the same free large 1-topping each time for the full 20 uses of the card, you would save $227.60. After subtracting the $10 you spent for the card, you would come out ahead $217.60. Not bad! If you don't live nearby, we would be more than happy to mail them to you. See if you can sell a few at work or in your neighborhood.

JOBS
I'm still seeking bookkeeping clients. My babysitting career will be ending soon, so I need to replace the income. Tim is still seeking laminate jobs. We are going to meet with someone tonight to look at his house and talk about doing his floors. Hopefully, this time things will go well, and we will actually be able to lay this floor.

NEW PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray for Tim as the new school year begins. He isn't sure if he needs to stay in teaching or find something else. We are praying through this now but could always use a few more warriors on our side. On one hand, public schools need Christian men in them (and the kids love him) and being unemployed all summer allows him extra time with his family, especially for taking trips. On the other hand the stress is taking a toll on his health, he has almost no time for family from August through May, and the expectations handed down to him are humanly impossible to meet 100%. Tim has such integrity and such a strong work ethic that he gets all the extra assignments that the "slackers" don't do. It seems easy to say, "Well, quit. Go do something else." But when his income is by far our main source of income, it would be difficult for him to walk into a total different field and start out at the same level of income (even if it is just a teacher's salary to begin with). He wants to be where God wants him, but he would also like to love his work and not stress about it.

Another FUN Party!

2008-06-28T22:16:00.002-05:00

A big THANKS goes to Jennifer for hosting this week's fundraiser party. She invited her homeschooling moms to come for an idea swap. Since I homeschool, too, this was a lot of fun. We talked homeschooling; we talked adoption; we talked spiritual walks; we talked and talked and talked. Although Jennifer had invited quite a number of friends, only a few were able to come. But, we still raised $50! Thanks ladies!

An even bigger outcome of the party was their enthusiasm for our adoption. They were so eager to hear our story and ask lots of questions. (If any of Jennifer's friends find my blog and have more questions, bring them on.)

YARD SALE UPDATE: Someone recently reminded me that Friday mornings are quite often busier than Saturday mornings for yard sales. Apparently, the "professional" yard-salers come out on Friday morning to catch the most stuff. So, we are going to have our yard sales on Fridays as well as Saturdays. Mark you calendar for July 11-12 and July 18-19. Again, if you have donations let us know. We will be glad to pick up any items.

Pizza Fundraiser

2008-06-24T21:56:00.004-05:00

Yes, we have another fundraiser going. We have pizza cards for Papa John's. Here's how it works. You buy a large pizza at regular price and get a second pizza of equal or lesser value for FREE. One pizza card gives you 20 uses--or 20 FREE PIZZAS-- for only $10. (Okay, "free for $10" doesn't make perfect sense, but that's 50 cents per pizza.) The card does not specify that it is for the M'boro area, so if you live outside our area, I can always mail you one...or two...or ten.

The other night I was sitting at the computer staring at my fundraising spreadsheet. "If we do this and this and this and make that and that and that, we'll be up to this amount. Still short." Colton came in and said, "When are Keely and Maggie going to come?"
"Just as soon as we can raise enough money to go and get them," I said.
"I know!" he said, "We could sell ice cream!" Then he ran out of here calling his daddy and told him how he had figured out how we could raise more money. He was so excited. As I later told Tim, don't think I haven't seriously considered his suggestion. The way I see it, because he is a child, he just might be better able to hear God's voice than I am. I tend to making spiritual listening a complicated process. So, I keep thinking he might be on to something. But I don't think an Ice Cream Stand in our front yard would work very well.

Yard Sale Update...We are still planning the yard sale for July 12, but we are also going to go ahead and plan a second one for the 19th as well. If you have any items you'd like to donate for either date, let us know. We'll be glad to come and pick them up. So far our inventory includes a ton of baby stuff, maternity clothes, Christmas stuff, a couch and love seat, a unicycle, and much more. We also plan to have the pizza cards for sale and maybe even some snacks.

Party Fundraiser...I'll be attending my 2nd party fundraiser this weekend. Jennifer is hosting an idea swap for her homeschooling friends. I'm hoping to get some new ideas myself. Please be praying for me as I will need to share our story so far. Most of these ladies don't have any personal experience with adoption, so maybe someone will leave this party thinking about it herself. That's exciting!

Yard Sale Coming...and other reminders

2008-06-18T09:39:00.004-05:00

I finally have my yard sale on the calendar-- JULY 12. I'm also penciling in the 19th as a make-up rain date (just in case) and also as a possible sequel sale (we'll put it all out again). If you have some nice things to donate, please let us know and we can pick them up. Let us know as soon as you can because we would like to have time to organize items. We are also going to have snacks and bottled water available for sale, so if you would like to donate anything like this, that would be great.

Tim is still looking for laminate flooring installation jobs. He has had three people talk to him about it, but then other things come up to prevent the job from going through. I guess times are tough everywhere, but nevertheless we still have a mission to accomplish, and we must continue trying to raise the money. By the way, he just bought a new pneumatic nailer that he is just itching to play with. He likes installing trim, if you know of anyone who might hire him for that as well.

Like Tim, I'm still looking for more business, too. I still need about 5 more bookkeeping clients. My babysitting job could run out around the end of the year, so I need to go ahead and get that income replaced. This could totally affect whether we qualify to adopt both girls or not.

Bracelets are still for sale. Don't forget about them. If you aren't in our immediate area, I will be more than glad to mail you one.

I mentioned previously that we have chosen Bulgaria and All God's Children International. Click here to view their page on Bulgaria. Lots of adorable pictures, too.

On a more personal note, Tim and I just celebrated 13 years of marriage yesterday. It's funny how it seems like forever and yesterday at the same time. I am so blessed that God put Tim in my life (twice actually). He is my very best friend, and we have shared a lot of fun and adventurous times. Yes, there have been valleys as well, but at least we were able to go through them together.

Happy Father's Day and GNO

2008-06-15T22:56:00.003-05:00

Happy Father's Day to my dear sweet husband! Tim is definitely one-of-a-kind. Not only is he a wonderful compliment to me (literally my other half), but he is a most excellent father. Colton has always had his dad as his favorite toy, and Eli caught on to this fact very quickly. I love to watch all three of my boys play together. They wrestle, jump on the trampoline, go for walks or bike rides, work in the yard or on special projects, and play video games together. At the same time, his primary goal is to be a father to them...not a buddy. We noticed from a very young age, our boys would get extra cuddly and loving after being disciplined, and their dad always has lots of lovin' to give them after they have received their consequences. Now, they have respect for him and just enjoy being with him and doing what he is doing. He is certainly setting an example for them in how to be a godly man.

Last night was my first GNO (Girl's Night Out) fundraiser. Gwen and Yolanda hosted, and we had a really fun time. I didn't know many ladies there (and those I "knew" I met once before), but it is so inspiring to listen to their adoption stories. Almost everyone there has already adopted at least once. They raised $145 for our adoption. [Don't forget the contest ends July 7. Any takers?]

You may have noticed my fundraiser goal pie chart has shrunk. I went ahead and changed the goal from $3000 to $6000. This may be a little short of covering the homestudy, the first agency installment, and lots of associated fees, but I think it is a reasonable goal right now for starting the process. It was hard to change the goal since we just met the old $3000 goal as I changed it. Oh well, we'll get there.

Do you remember a recent post in which I listed several obstacles to our fundraising? Well, it continues. Two people have asked Tim to lay laminate flooring and later had to back out (for their own good reasons). Tim was supposed to go to a another friend's house a couple of weeks ago to help her clean out her garage--paid for his time, and anything she got rid of would come here to await our yard sale. The night before he was supposed to go there, she called. She had taken a fall on her front steps and ended up in the emergency room with a broken nose and a very swollen face. Needless to say, she didn't feel like keeping the scheduled cleaning day. But the funniest one has got to be Corky's. I had an idea for getting this barbecue place to cater a fundraiser dinner for me. Just the other day we drove by the restaurant and noticed the message on the sign. After 12 YEARS, they have closed down the business. 12 YEARS! And they pick now to shut down just as I decide to use them. It's just too much not to laugh out loud.

Prayer Requests

Keely and Maggie
Our fundraising efforts
More bookkeeping clients for me
Laminate installation jobs for Tim
and as always...constant guidance

Summer is here

2008-05-31T09:12:00.003-05:00

It's finally summer! Tim doesn't have to go to school anymore; Colton's friends are home during the day; our friends who are teachers are free to visit; and we don't homeschool...well, not everyday. I have gently talked Colton into continuing reading lessons and piano lessons 2 days a week through the summer. We started this reading book in January 2007 for just 3 days a week and continued all last summer. By sticking with it this summer too, we will be able to finish it before starting our first grade material. I highly recommend The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The website suggests that even kids attending school will benefit from this method of learning to read, and I believe it. So many schools have lost all focus of phonics (learning the sounds of letters and combinations of letters so you can sound out a word). These schools have gone to memorization of words, and a kid can only memorize so much, and what happens when he is on his own and sees a word that wasn't on one of his lists?

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling this year. I was actually afraid of kindergarten because I was used to teaching middle and high school students. Kindergarten is so fundamental and so basic, I was afraid I would have a hard time explaining things in a way Colton could understand. But the materials we used really took care of the explanations for me.

Soccer was another highlight from our school year. Funny, though, Colton's interest in soccer peaked about 2 days after the season ended. I think it was because Eli started driving the soccer ball throughout the house. Big brother then had to give him some pointers because he had actually played soccer before. Now they both want to play next year. Eli announced that he wants to be on a red team. (Colton's was blue, so I'm not sure why he picked red.) Eli will actually be old enough next year as a 4 year-old. Can't wait to see that.

Fundraising Update
Tim has a garage to clean (hopefully adding items to our yard sale). Tim may have to get a summer job, but he would love to fill his summer with installing laminate flooring. If you can recommend him to someone, please, please, please do so. He not only could raise more money this way, but he would enjoy it so much more than the summer jobs he's has in the past. Oh, and of course, he will charge way less than the stores who sell the flooring, so everybody benefits.

As for my bookkeeping, I could use more clients. I figure that if I just had a couple more clients, we could qualify for adopting 2 children through the agency we like best. (See the last posting for an explanation if you need to.) With 5 or 6 more clients, I could maintain that qualifying amount even after I stop babysitting some day. (That never was an indefinite source of income.) It doesn't HAVE to be a small business either. I can do your personal bookkeeping as well. I'd show you where you are spending money so you could see where you could trim and save. I'd also help you create and follow a budget. We've been using a budget for at least 11 of the almost 13 years we've been married. If you've never had a budget, you really should try one. I find it relieves a lot of stress when the car breaks down and you see that you have more than enough money in the Car Repairs category to cover the repairs. Ok, end of the commercial.

Back to Summer
Isn't it strange how summers seemed to last longer when we were little? Summertime was this vast space of time filled with fun relaxing activities: days spent at Granny & Grandaddy's or at a friend's house, swimming, playing outside, completing a special project and so on. So much time to just do what you wanted to do. Now, it seems like we're just getting started when the summer is gone and Tim's back at school. What was your favorite summer memory? Any big plans for this summer?

Yea!...I Think

2008-05-22T22:23:00.006-05:00

(Update at bottom and in green.)

Yea! about the pie chart on the right. We have $2800 in our adoption fund right now. We've sold a few more bracelets, had a donation, saved some, and biggest of all had a contribution from Uncle Sam. It would seem we are very close to getting started, right? We have $2800 of the $3000 needed. Then yesterday I heard from one of the agencies I'm talking with. She said that just after the home study, we will have a packet of paperwork to complete before becoming "official" clients of their agency. Along with submitting the finished paperwork, the first lump sum is due--$6750*--and there is a little over 90 days for getting it all turned in. With our fundraising efforts still averaging about $100 a month, we can't apply with that looming so soon in the future. Obviously, we need to really step up our fundraising. Unfortunately, we are completely dependent on other people's responses to our efforts.

I also just found out that with this same agency (whom we were favoring), they have a minimum income requirement. (Many agencies have this.) Right now, we fall short of qualifying to adopt two children. Of course, this time last year, we barely qualified to keep the two kids we have. ; ) It seems simple enough to say, "Well, you qualify for one child, so just adopt one." The problem is my brain is thinking in twos; my heart is feeling in twos. We've been praying for Keely AND Maggie. It feels almost like being pregnant with twins and being asked to choose which one you want to keep and which one you choose to lose. (And if fundraising doesn't take off, it's like being told that two of your children are going to be taken away.) For those of you who do not have a foot in the world of adoption, you may not understand this, but these girls are already a part of our family. We just have to pray that God will bring us all together very soon.

This is probably a good time to remind you to keep your ears open for people in M'boro who need a bookkeeper. If I can get my bookkeeping income up, we could qualify for two AND we could save faster. Also, Tim is hoping to fill his summer with laminate flooring installation. He has already talked with one gentleman from our church. A few of these jobs would make a really big difference.

By the way, unless something changes before we have to declare a country on paper, we have chosen Bulgaria. The only way to adopt 2 children there is if they are siblings, so Keely and Maggie will already be sisters.

Party Update
I have 2 parties scheduled (both of these from the four who were willing before the contest). I have had zero new responses since declaring the contest. Oh well, it sounded like a good idea. If you might still consider participating, look at it this way: With so few participants, you might actually win! More info...

Personal Notes
Jessica, thank you so much for your sweet letter and donation. I tried to email you, but it bounced. Email me sometime with a new address so we don't lose touch.

Prayer Requests

Choosing an agency
Increasing income to qualify soundly with any agency for 2 children
Fundraising needs to skyrocket; What can I do differently? New ideas.
Steven Curtis Chapman's family
Laminate flooring and/or summer job for Tim
Yard sale coming in June; I don't want to blow this opportunity.

*Update: I just heard from the agency mentioned above. She quoted me for the wrong program. Instead of needing $6750 so soon after applying, it is only $3750. Still quite a bit, but at least not as much.

Mother's Day Thoughts

2008-05-12T10:44:00.004-05:00

We have our first official entry in our Party Contest. Gwen is hosting Girls' Night Out on June 14th. Can we get some more on the calendar this week? Everyone is being awfully quiet. Remember, I don't HAVE to be at your party in case you live too far away or if you were planning the 14th as well.

Happy Mother's Day (a day late) to all you moms, especially those of you who are celebrating for the first time. To those of you waiting, hang in there. I remember one year during the 4 years it took us to get pregnant with our first child, I couldn't even bring myself to go to church on Mother's Day. They were giving out special pins and flowers to all the moms; they were recognizing all the moms; they were singing and preaching about moms; and they were even having a baby dedication service as well. It was just too much to handle. I thought, "If one more person tells me and a big grin, 'Just wait. Your turn is coming,' I'd just have to scream." I was tired of waiting, and I had no idea if my turn would ever come. What if it didn't? I wanted so badly to be a mom. I've always wanted to be a mom. I had a hard time choosing a path in school and a career, but I've always wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. It's funny...last night just before bedtime, I got my Mother's Day card from my kids. Colton had dictated to Tim what to write in it. One line said, "You have been a great mommy since you were a child." Well, maybe I wasn't officially a mommy then, but my sights were set on it.

I guess this adoption is an extension of that desire. I always wanted more than 2 kids, but we got off to such a late start, and I don't really want to be pregnant at my age (and worse yet, pregnant again later). Then when I really began to feel the need that exists for so many orphans in the world. Wow! The solution is so obvious: I can have more kids; they can have parents and siblings and cousins and grandparents and a home and learn about Jesus and.... Not that they will receive more than I will. I've heard a lot of you adoptive parents talking about how you wanted to be a blessing to a child and ended up being the one blessed. My primary hope IS to be a blessing to them. If some of it gets on me, that's just extra.

Ideas/Work/Encouragement Needed

2008-05-08T12:34:00.008-05:00

No one ever said this was going to be easy. I never even thought it would be. But even so, we've had some interesting obstacles that have come our way.

*Not everyone in our circle is excited or even accepting of our decision. While we still believe God has called us to adopt, it's hard to erase the opinions of those close to you once their opinions have been heard.
*When I first started making bracelets, Tim took one to school, and another
teacher had just started making and selling jewelry too.
*When I began making plans for a June yard sale, we received a flyer on our
mailbox that some charity organization would have a truck in our neighborhood on
a given day collecting everyone's unwanted items...like the stuff we might have
had in our yard sale.
*Our church is constantly fundraising for a building project. How do you ask
church members (of a small church) to give to both?
*Tim (being a teacher) can't even set out a box of candy bars or something for
sale. He can wear the bracelet, and if someone asks about it, fine. I don't work
outside the home, so I come in contact with very few people, just church.

Before I announced the Party Contest, I had 4 people who said they would be willing to host one. While I don't have any dates yet, I still have those same 4 who are still willing. (Thank you, my Fantastic Four!) If anyone else out there is planning to participate, I would LOVE to hear from you. It doesn't matter if you have 5 guests or 50. Just your efforts will be a huge help. I confess, I'm needing a little boost of encouragement.

I can't think of anything else to sell, especially when I haven't had much luck selling. I can't afford to spend money on fundraisers that might not raise any funds. The only other way to get more money that I can think of is lots of work + lots of saving. I am certainly not opposed to working. I love the feel of working hard, doing a good job, and earning money for it. (Yes, all three make a really good feeling.) So, here is my request of you today. If you know of anyone who could use me to do their bookkeeping from home, please recommend me. I use QuickBooks. I have also had a little formal tax training and am currently studying independently to learn more. I even have my tax preparer's ID number and can prepare tax returns. Or, if you or someone you know would like to have laminate flooring installed, call us. Tim loves doing this, and as a team we are quite efficient...and cheap. We have one gentleman from church who has asked Tim to install some for him as his way of helping our adoption. Tim would love to be able to fill up his summer doing this. We have even replaced siding on a couple of houses and could do that, too. Well, maybe not a 2-story house, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Another thing that would just help morale is to hear from you on this blog. If you have ideas for us, thoughts for us, or can just type "Hi" and your name, let me know that you are out there and reading.

Have a Party!

2008-05-01T08:15:00.004-05:00

Remember the Girls' Night Out fundraiser I went to? Well, I'm putting my own twist to it. We're having a Party Contest. You can see all the rules and how-to on my website. Click here.

Here's the idea. You think of a group of people you know and a reason to get them all together. It could be a Girls' Night Out, a card tournament, a scrapbooking party, a 4th of July cookout, etc., etc. Tell all of your guests that this is a fundraiser for an adoption, and ask them to bring a $10 donation to your party. For every party that sends in $150 or more, the host will receive a $10 Sonic Card. For the party that sends in the most money, the host will receive a $25 gas card.

I think this will allow us to receive support from people we don't know. So far, my newsletter list has 55 people on it. Since our most recent estimates for adopting 2 children is looking like $45,000, each person on our newsletter list would have to donate almost $820 each! That's not going to happen. I know I can't keep soliciting the same people to buy stuff or donate. (Although only a few people off the newsletter list have bought or donated so far.) With this contest, the person we know is only kicking in $10. This will be a great fundraiser IF ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL PARTICIPATE. The contest runs through July 7.

A Quick Update
We are still researching countries and agencies. I'm expecting a packet any day from Holt International. I'm still looking at material from All God's Children International, Carolina's Hope, and Little Miracles. We're focusing our country search on Bulgaria right now, but I see the country and agency choice as almost one choice--picking the agency based on the countries they offer and picking the country based on the agency we like.

Family Update
Colton turned 6 in April, and he just lost his first tooth. He was so very excited. Eli (3) has learned to spell his name. I know, it's a short name, but he is proud of himself. I've been hanging out at the dentist's office this month. I had 5 fillings and a crown in two appointments. Then the crown has given me trouble since day one and caused me to go back 3 times. I think the adjustment yesterday has done the trick. It already feels much better today. Tim has a birthday coming up Monday (Cinco de Mayo). If you see him, be sure to rub it in. He is trying to patiently wait out the remainder of the school year and is eagerly anticipating moving to the new middle school in the fall.

Cool Fundraiser

2008-04-21T10:31:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday I went to an adoption fundraiser at Gwen's house and met a wonderful group of ladies. Everyone there had either already adopted or were at least further into the process than I am. The way this fundraiser worked was really quite simple. The hostesses provide all the refreshments and a movie (which we never got around to watching). All I did was bring $10 and enjoy the great company. Most of these ladies, like myself, already had biological children when they decided to adopt. I'm really looking forward to learning more from them.

The fundraiser was for Katie Jo and raised $160. Way to go, girls! I hear she has 9 other Girls Night Out parties scheduled just like this one. Their goal is $1,000. I'm definitely going to have to try out this fundraiser. Lots of fun.

Speaking of fundraisers, I'm looking into pizza cards. Has anyone tried this one? Does it work well?

My Crazy Life

2008-04-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone.

Allow me to introduce myself. I have been married to the most wonderful man (Tim) for almost 13 years. We have two boys--Colton (6) and Eli (3). I taught school (grades 6-12) for 8 years and then moved to a position overseeing technology in the classrooms for 3 years. While my husband is completing his 13th year as a middle school teacher, we have decided to homeschool our own children. Colton and I will be finishing kindergarten soon. In addition to homeschooling, I baby-sit an 8 month-old neighbor; I play the keyboard/piano full-time at church; and I have a very small bookkeeping business that I run from home during naps and between diapers.

But the "craziest" thing on my plate right now is trying to make plans for an international adoption. Actually 2 adoptions if God wills it. We would like to adopt 2 girls most likely between the ages of 1-5. We don't know where they are, but their names are going to be Keely Page and Maggie Elizabeth. Our 2 biggest obstacles right now are choosing a country (and agency) and raising the money. We are trying to set small financial goals, but even those are slow in coming. Just to get through the application, home study, and initial paperwork, we need about $3,000.

Part of the reason for this attempt at blogging is so that I can meet people who have adopted or who know people who have. I'd like to hear your words of wisdom. We have a website at www.demossendeavors.com/ where we advertise jobs we can do. We also have a little store there for selling these adoption bracelets I'm making. What do you think? They cost $8, and I have recently made a couple of necklaces for $10. Want one?

We are also planning a yard sale for June, but other than those two things, we've been fundraising since December, and we've only got $470 to show for it. Any suggestions anyone?

Now about country, we started out looking at El Salvador. They had very few adoptions per year and had a potential for being flooded if/when Guatemala closed (which they have). Then we chose Guatemala, but it has closed for now. As I look at other countries, there seems to be at least one major obstacle with each one. Either it has recently closed, is way more expensive than others, has a very long wait (like 3 years), or requires a very lengthy stay in the country (like 5-6 weeks). I can neither imagine leaving my boys for that long nor can I imagine taking them into a foreign country where a little girl or girls would be needing my undivided attention anyway.

Over the last few days I have looked at Bulgaria, Ukraine, and even China. But China's wait is approaching the 3 year mark, and you can only adopt 1 child at a time. That's 6 years! I'll be too old to handle it by then!! Okay, I'm not exactly ancient, but I'm 38, and Tim is about to turn 42. That does start disqualifying you from some programs.

Does anyone have any advice on countries? or agencies?