May 2017 Life Update

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The day my friend Donnie Williams passed away, I caught a cold.  I pretty much just got over it this past weekend.  Whenever I catch a cold, it hits me hard, and this one stuck around for six and a half weeks.  So, I did a lot of sleeping during the month of April, and in early May.  Add to the fact one of my best friends passed away, and that had me extremely sad and I would have been sleeping a lot for that reason as well.

My husband is on a pretty regular work schedule now, with his weekend being Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  Since I work at home, I use those as my days off as well so we can spend time together and then I can get lots of work done while he is at his shift.  That's why I have been posting on an odder schedule than usual.

March 2017 Life Update

Things have been really exciting around here lately.  Mostly with good excitement.  I've kept my big news from February rather quiet because I didn't want anyone to know we were going to be gone for a while, but I won a big sweepstakes prize on SuperBowl Sunday.  So many companies have promotions on that day, I nickname it "SweeperBowl".   Turkish Airlines aired a commercial with James Earl Jones, and in conjunction with that gave away 10 business class tickets.  I won one of them!  For my husband to join me on the trip, we had to purchase a ticket for him, and we had to pay for hotel.  But still, we had planned a vacation for this month anyway.

Life Update February 2017

I haven't given a life update / Adoption update since August, so I thought it was time to fill all of you in as to what has been going on in our lives.

Yes, we still want to adopt.  That is a huge desire.  But while I wouldn't say life has been getting in the way, we have been trying to prepare ourselves for that.  We've been doing a lot of work on the emotional and mental preparation that comes with fostering / adopting.  We had more to do on that than I had realized, so this has been taking some time.

We are still working on the house.  Not only does it need to be up to code, but I am still getting rid of "stuff".  What is this "stuff"?   Mom had, as her best friend from high school put it, "Many Treasures".  Not long after Mom passed away I had some work done on the house.  Most of this was put in tubs and needs to be unpacked and sorted through.  (A few keep items, some to give away, some will get tossed.)  This is slower going than I had anticipated, and it is also mentally exhausting as well.  

August 2016 Goals (and Adoption Prep) Update

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Adoption / House Goals

*We need to get the 89 year old windows replaced.  A church group provided the labor for this.  It was a good thing, too, since the windows weren't measured properly and some extra frames needed to be built around them.  
*A new furnace since ours quit working the last snowstorm of winter.  Still without heat, but it's still summer.
*Declutter the house.  Still working on this.
*Homestudy and paperwork finished  We haven't sat down and worked on this in a while.  There seems to be so much else that needs done.
*drywall installed in rest of the house  
*vinyl plank installed in the rest of the house.

June 2016 Adoption and Goals Update

Can you believe another month has passed so quickly?  I've been super busy.  I've been finishing up the Elite Blogging Academy course, trying to get things ready for the work group who are going to help us install the windows, AND I was in the hospital overnight in May.  I had a severe dental infection, and the dentists were perplexed as to what to do, and decided to admit me for observation and to give me IV antibiotics.  Needless to say, I felt out of commission for a little over a week so not as much got done as I had hoped.

Why I Don't Attend Church on Mother's Day.

Last year, a couple ladies I know asked me to go to church with them that next Sunday.  I said honestly, "I never go to church on Mother's Day."  Truth is, churches have turned me off to going to any service that entire weekend.

The last time I did attend one, I left in tears.  The priest kept repeating that being a mother is God's highest calling for women.  I have to disagree with that.  It is the highest calling IF you are to have children.  Do you think Mother Theresa missed God's highest calling because she wasn't a mother? I think God's highest calling for us is what He has called us to -- and that might not be motherhood.

Adoption and Goals Update May 2016

I'm changing how I am doing my adoption updates as it seems things are dragging so slowly.  I feel overwhelmed much of the time and I think if I categorize and attack things in a more systematic manner, it will help me.  Also, on some of the online selling boards I visit, they love to "show the numbers" so while I'm not comfortable showing all my numbers, this is a little more of "how I do what I do" As always, this post contains affiliate links.

Adoption / House Goals

*We need to get the 89 year old windows replaced.

Late February Adoption Update

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Not much has happened in the month since I gave my last adoption update -- unless you count what feels like a step or two backwards.

Winter Storm Jonas hit our area hard.  My husband was stuck at work for a couple days (thankfully he was provided with a free hotel room from the place he works, although he did expect to have to share it with another employee who worked another shift.)  I sent him out of the house that morning with extra clothing, snacks, and made sure he had things like his phone charger.  It seems like much of his free time for the next week was spent shoveling.

January adoption update

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I can't believe it's late January already.  Winter has finally hit (and boy did it!  Over three feet of snow.)

I won a bed last year, and even though the window in that room is busted out and boarded up, I decided it was time we move to that bed.  On windy nights, the boards rattle in the window, and there's a cool breeze into the room.  But the bed is comfortable.  The most comfortable bed I have ever owned.  (Of course I have slept on the floor a number of years, too, as to give my mother a good bed when hers was no longer useable.  I've gotten used to sleeping on such hard surfaces I didn't know if I would like this bed or not but I love it.)

Late December Adoption Update

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Christmas is over, and was definitely a difficult one for me.  This was the second Christmas without my mother, and the second Christmas that family won't have anything to do with me.  Last Christmas I was bracing myself for yet *another* funeral.  That was for a friend from high school and just two days after Christmas.  This year there was no funeral to brace for (thankfully) and it was just getting through Christmas.

Late November Adoption Update

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Our last PRIDE (Foster / adoption) class was this week.  I'm going to enjoy having my Wednesday evenings back again, but will certainly miss the friends I made in the class.  We offered to give a ride to a friend and as we were backing out of her driveway, my husband backed right into a black 2015 Jeep Cherokee.  *sigh*   It was raining, it was dark, and the vehicle was extremely camouflaged.

It's been one expense after another later. The furnace, both of our cars, someone else's car, and we need a number of windows replaced, and the one that is most in need of replacement (because it's just boarded up) is a special order.

The boy we wanted to adopt is no longer available. (Long story, and we were anticipating having him here hopefully by Christmas.)  A second boy we were considering is being adopted by another couple.  So right now, we're working towards adoption but with no specific child in mind.

Our PRIDE training is good for three years, so we might take a little more time now and approach the process a little more slowly.  It will give us more time to get the house ready.  Find things we need.  (Maybe I'll come across a great sale on a bed before we need it!)

Bottom line is we're still moving forward but just slower than we had originally planned.

I'm hoping we can get the windows replaced before winter hits.  I don't want to think about how much that will cost.  Then hopefully we can get started on a couple rooms in the house that need updated.  (When I inherited this house, it was totally filled with paneling.)  The house renovations are not cheap by any means.  They are sorely needed though.  So I'll be listing on eBay, selling Paparazzi $5 jewelry, blogging, and entering sweepstakes.  My husband is working extra hours and we're doing all we can to save money.

Book Review: Safe House by Joshua Straub

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My husband and I are in classes to train us so we can either foster or adopt children. When Family Christian offered me a chance to review Safe House by Joshua Straub I was excited to read this book.

This book was a bit of a slow read for me.  I never, never, never dog ear a book.  This one had so much great information in it, that it was the exception to my rule.  This went along with what I have been learning in class, just in more detail.

We're Adopting and Ways you can help!

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Big news!   We're paperwork pregnant!

The bad news is, the house we have been fixing up to make live-able (there was 60 year old carpet plus tons of other stuff that was bad for the lungs or just unsafe).   It's taken all the life insurance money I got from my mother.

Late October Adoption Update

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It's been a long month of classes.  So far this month, we have spent five evenings going to classes.  Because of where we live, it takes us as long to get to class and back as it does to sit through class (two hours and three hours depending on where the class is.)  This week, we only have five hours of classes, but they are also my husband's only days off.  One week we had seven hours of classes (and seven hours of travel) in three days time.  Oh, and did I mention we also have homework in addition to getting the house in order and trying to come up with enough money for adoption expenses?

Adoption (non) update

It's been a week since we got the news every prospective adoptive parent fears -- and so far we haven't heard anything more.  The agency isn't sure what is going on, and of course we're just as clueless.

We fell in love with a specific boy, and that's why we started the adoption process when we did.  But now it's looking like we won't be able to adopt him.

People have asked me specifics, but it's like I told someone, "In the even things do work out and we are able to adopt him, it's his story and he should have the ability to share it or not share it, whatever he chooses."   I don't feel I can make that decision for him.

We've started Adoption Paperwork!

I've been a bit quiet this week, but I've been super busy.  We started paperwork this week to potentially adopt a child!



Classes start in October.  We've been remodeling our home for a while, and it's a wreck with everything everywhere.  (For a while we moved our living room into the office, etc.)  We have lots of work to do, because the house isn't quite ready to pass the home study yet (that will be pricey in and of itself.)  Plus, we're pursuing a private adoption, and that is pricey as well.

Next week we get fingerprinted, and I have an inch of paperwork we need to fill out.

Exciting times!

Adoption Book Review: At Any Cost by Mike and Haley Jones

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A quick scroll through my Facebook feed shows numbers of smiling children.  However, there's quite a few who don't look like their parents.  Many of my friends have adopted, both from the United States and overseas.  I've celebrated on this side of the world when they would post that papers were signed and they were now the proud parents of a child they had prayed for, raised money to bring home, and most importantly loved before the child even knew the parents existed.