Summer Started & Yard Sale 24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!