House and Adoption Update

I don't usually post twice in one day, but fun developments happened today that I had to share with my sweet blog readers :-)

This house showing business is very interesting. They have a service that notifies us when someone is coming to our house to give us a time to vacate before they get there. Since today is our actual first day on the market, our realtor called me this morning about 10 am to say someone wanted to come between 12 and 1:30. I piddled around in a couple stores and then Amy took pity me on me and let me hang out with her since while I was out, a second person wanted to come by at 1:15 this afternoon. So I didn't get much laundry or the rest I was looking forward to after all that yard work this weekend but according to their realtor the first couple was very interested :-) So some encouragement! The sodding quotes are more reasonable than we had heard from others so that should go well too. By the way, thanks Kim and Sarah, yes the pics will be safe and sound at sweet Amy's house and I will look forward to hanging them in the new house. Maybe there WILL be two purple rooms, that makes me all kinds of happy!

We also got notice that the children's home received our packet. They are forming a seminar now for all the families to meet in Portales and I'll need to finish our portfolio by then. We need to find a local agency to do our "safe home study" and sounds like that is off and running.

Today was a busy day and it's not over yet, I'm very sore from all the yard work over the weekend, but very happy with how things are developing :-)

Preparing

A large part of the last week has been spent preparing the house to go on the market. We started Wednesday taking down all personal photographs. Saturday, we signed with our realtor and she had us pair down on our personal knick knacks that we had out. After she left, we worked on the shrubs and clearing out the flower beds. Sunday after church we spent several hours planting flowers in all the beds. Billy is looking in to quotes for getting the yard re sodded. Between the water restrictions last year and the overgrown tree we've since had pruned, it killed our grass. We don't have time to just let it revive itself since there is already a for sale sign in the front yard plus 4 houses down there is another house for sale. Their yard looks great. We helped some friends move Saturday as well, so I'm pretty happy to be sitting here typing this morning as just about everything on me is sore. Doing laundry and going to the grocery store will be a nice break after the manual labor we have done this weekend. I'm sure it's from watching HGTV, but I enjoy before and after pics, so here goes....

Before:


After


Friday night was spent preparing our book for birth mothers to review for the adoption. Thank you Liesl for your example and to Sarah for your suggestions while I was actually starting on it.

Can't think of a Title

This week has been busy, so thank you for praying for Billy's ct scan he had on Monday for the lump in his lung. The results came in on Wednesday that it was nothing to be concerned about, but they want to do a check up in six months just to make sure. So that's good news :-)

We have been depersonalizing our house this week. I didn't realize how many photographs I had around the house until I filled up a good size box and then some. It feels weird, like I'm living in some random house now. My concern is selling this house more than finding the right one we want, so what ever it takes. We are looking in to re sodding the front yard based on a second opinion we received.

This week I've felt relieved, definitely a burden off my shoulders to have completed the adoption paperwork. Billy and I can just be happy, instead of having the pressure and stress of "trying". There's only so long I can walk around feeling that emotionally fragile. Which is good, because I've found out three more women are pregnant and I can be happy for them without pain interfering with that. I'm becoming a bit more comfortable with being asked if I have children (which happens quite often surprisingly enough) as there is an end in sight and light at the end of the tunnel.

Easter Weekend

Our Easter today was spent with some of my family egg hunting, playing with bubbles and just spending time together:



The bunny cake was sooo cute to look at (Billy enjoyed, I could only admire)






It was also spent with our sweet friend Chad who came over this evening twice after twice Saturday (wayyy above the call of duty ) to install our new kitchen sink. Miranda, thank you for lending so much of his free weekend holiday time to help us, we can't tell you how much we appreciate it. Keep in mind the new one weighs 3 times (only my guess on the weight of course, as I did none of the heavy lifting) as much as the old one. Here's a before:



During:


After:


Happy Resurrection Day!!

A Good Friday

Today, Billy and I slept in and when I awoke he greeted me with breakfast in bed. We went to the police station where they filled out our background check forms (no, we do not have criminal records) and then off to the post office to certify mail a decent size package. From the flow chart they gave us, sounds like the next step is to check on the references we provided for them (all five of them not including the letter our sweet pastor sent out last week on our behalf). Then they perform a home study to see how we live, where the baby would go, etc. I've had a couple of really great conversations with some women about adoption who had alot to share and I'm so blessed they reached out to me. Thank you Jenna, Michelle and Krista! From what I'm hearing from this point it could take anywhere from 12-18 months (estimate) for a baby to be placed with us.

For now, we will work on putting our house on the market. It doesn't feel quite so overwhelming now we've been spending time in the Psalms, it's just helped so much. We went to Home Depot this afternoon to buy a faucet to go with the new sink we bought last week. (We actually got it from Billy's brother who got the wrong color, we loved it, so bought it off him, saved him from having to return it) We have several other fix it projects, toe kick for Billy to replace, headboard for me to finish, etc, etc. Then we are going to ask at least one more realtor what they think about our home. We'll need help finding a new one too. Pretty exciting, we moved around a bit as kids, so one last move and then Billy won't be able to peel me out of this next one.

The day ended with a wonderful dinner that's probably the best one I've made in the two years I've been adjusting to the Celiac. Billy made the awesome gravy and the red sauce is a Homemade Gourmet packet for Buffalo Chicken Wings, Billy thoroughly enjoyed! We baked the chicken with some of my Pamela's Mix and a bit of olive oil, they came out so pretty! I cheated on the biscuits, it's a gluten free mix, Sarah still makes the best ones from scratch :-)





I'm officially tired, night!

Family Health Issues

Billy & I have both had to undergo some medical testing to prove we are physically able to take care of a child for the adoption agency. Billy's x-ray came back with a pulmonary nodule, basically a lump in his lung. Could be nothing, we pray that it is. He'll have a ct-scan next Monday to know for sure.

My mother called after her dr's appt today to tell me she had been told she has fybromyalgia. I had a glimpse of an advanced case of that in San Diego with Billy's aunt who has had it for almost 20 years. I did a bit of research this afternoon to find this test.

Here is how it works:

Place a clothespin on your finger (not over the nail according to the picture)
Set a timer for 30 minutes
See how long you can bear the pain. Did you leave the clothespin on for 15 minutes? 10? 5?
For each minute you adverted that clothespin pain, donate to the NFA-$20 a minute, $10 a minute, $5 a minute...
NOW. Imagine this pain forever... This should help you understand what it is like to live with constant pain - but people with FM can't just "remove" the pain the way you can remove that clothespin!

Paperwork

Due to miss Rachel being taken care of, I have this coming week off. Billy and I each have to round up one more thing each and we can send off the adoption paperwork while I'm off. We sat down and answered some pretty conversation provoking questions:

1. How do we plan to teach our children spiritual values and Biblical knowledge?
2. What are our hopes, dreams, goals and general aspirations for our children?
3. How do we plan to discipline our children?

It asked about our experience with children, as well as what qualities, behaviors or characteristics do we like/ disk like in children? And how do we think these characteristics come about? Of course the all important why do we wish to adopt? When was this decision made and why now? What activities we are a part of, our extended family information including their occupations and churches attended, our health and employment background.

I am going to take pictures of each room in our home as well as us. Our sweet friend Liesl has sweetly offered to help us with basically getting a blue print of our house to send the agency. Billy is getting our last couple years tax forms together. We're at the end of the tunnel on this. We both have to go down to the police station and have our criminal background checks done and that's it. We've already done the abuse checks as well as getting information notarized.

Does it sound as involved when I type it? I'm just glad we made it through it. Little scary, I gotta say. To think in the next year we could have a baby in our home brings tears to my eyes and I'd fill out a billion more forms to get there.

We also had a realtor come take a look out our house to see what they thought. I'm a bit picture happy so those will have to come down if we want to put it on the market and we were going to replace the kitchen sink anyway.

Trimming the Tree

I am so excited about our tree getting trimmed. It has grown in to this beast that has hidden our house from the street slowly over the last 3 years. (Add: We did this for a few reasons. It's been killing our grass, so if we do it this early in the season, maybe we'll have a pretty yard this year. Also, the adoption paperwork needs a photo of all views of our home, inside and out. Plus, Billy is getting the itch to sell. Not sure how we're are going to manage both, but it would be nice to be in our forever place before we bring a baby home.)


Last Fall:


Last week during the snow:




Today when I got home:

Friends & Events

This last weekend was spent connecting with sweet friends I don't often get to see in person. It took going to some types of events that otherwise I think I would be uncomfortable with, but I've been richly rewarded in really connecting. I just want to thank Kristen, Amy W & A, Sarah and Emily in their bravery in asking how I'm really doing and sweetly listening while I talked. Taking on the challenge of adoption is a very unknown territory. The paperwork will reveal what few personal private ghosts in the closet we had left after the infertility treatments. It's similar to a resume at this point, talk up your good. It's feeling as though we have to sell ourselves to prove we would be good parents. This last week has been pretty tough for me. It's easy for satan to get in there and for the negativity to stop us from going further. He might win a battle for a time, but he doesn't get to win the war. In case you're wondering what some of this paperwork entails. We are facing a stack of information including police checks, notarized statements, blueprints of our home, pictures of us and information about our background and lifestyles and those of our extended family.

Snuggled in from the Snow

I came home from being out in the sleet with my mind set on hot cocoa. I was out so I googled home made hot chocolate. I learn the best stuff when I'm out of ingredients :-) I published more pics on my Facebook page.


SARAH'S BEST HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE

1 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. water
1 c. milk
a bit of vanilla, if desired

Combine cocoa, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Heat it on low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the paste from sticking to the pan. After about 1 to 2 minutes, add milk and vanilla. Mix it all together until it reaches your preferred temperature. Yield: 1 mug

Day 7- Coronado Island & Day 8- Home

Our last full day in San Diego had me waking up to a now familiar feeling. My joints ached and the more I moved around the more I hurt and became lethargic. The random notation yesterday of picking up the wrong vinegar had implications. Some vinegars have malt which is a form of gluten in them. That is the only thing I ate differently (sometimes it's hard to pinpoint the culprit after the fact). The sun was shining, it was our last day and I had heard great things about the Hotel del Coronado so I sucked it up the best I could and went. I would walk about 10 feet and have to rest and catch my breathe. It really leaves me in a foggy head feeling for about 24 hours.

We took a ferry over, so I could sit and that helped:


Picked up a souvenir or two from Coronado Island, the shopping side:



Downtown San Diego from the Ferry and then from the Island:




We took the ferry back over to drive over the bridge:




We saw the Hotel Del Coronado:



We left the hotel early afternoon and then I got to sleep :-)

We left for the airport early the next morning, here's the view of San Diego from the airplane:




Goodbye San Diegeans and thank you for a wonderful week!

Day 6- Balboa Park & Lake Murray

We all spent the majority of the day at Balboa Park







We headed over to the Souplantation again for lunch. I ate the same thing I had the time before but I think I picked up a different vinegar for my salad.

Billy and I were able to take a walk by ourselves and watch the sun set over in the distance over the mountains beyond Lake Murray:

Day 5-Church & Family

Sunday morning the family went to La Mesa Church of Christ. We heard a wonderful sermon about being part of a church family by their youth minister Graham who alot of you know and love from Richland Hills C of C. This is Graham's super sweet wife Brianna and beautiful son who greeted us and made us feel welcome far from home :-) The gorgeous little girls were too quick for my camera. It really is such an encouragement and safe haven to go to any church and know there are other people out there trying to do the very hard task of following Jesus in a world that does not honor Him. Graham Clifford spoke about the "Failure to Thrive" Syndrome in conjunction with life after Acts 2:38. The Failure to Thrive theory is based on a study done a couple of times over history in that babies will physically die when not given physical touch and a human voice to talk to them. The same theory applies to our spiritual lives. Our spiritual side will die if not feed properly. Yes, all Christians are flawed and especially for this reason we need each other and most of all Christ to remind us of the bigger picture. The effective Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. See Acts 2:41-47 and John 13:34

I heard this analogy from Max Lucado once. Say you're a football fan.... I bet you like to go to stadiums, watch the games, hang out with other fans, get stats and absorb the game environment. You might not like every play and you may disagree with the refs at times, but you're still a fan. So by looking from the outside anyone could tell you are big fan of football. I'd never learn more about the game and understand the joys it can bring if I don't keep attending.

Excuse me while I veer off for a moment....I have seen this play out in my own life in my early 20's. I tried to be a good influence to someone who it turned out brought me down I think far more than I was able to encourage them closer to God. Why wasn't my light more effective? I ended up being cut off from the church. My best friends that I spend my daily time around are strong Christians, not because I believe I am any better than a non-believer, but because I need the encouragement. I have friends and family who aren't believers and I love them and do not look down on them. Of course I used the excuse I didn't need to be in a specific building to pray or learn about God back then and you don't. (I believe it's residue from the 70's hippy movement of nothing organized. EVERYTHING is organized, school, your work place, your bank.) But was I REALLY praying and learning and growing closer in my walk with God? Of course I wasn't. I was only fooling myself. Whether it's because I didn't feel worthy, didn't think I'd relate to what I thought were all the "good" people or that I'd done stuff too bad for God to forgive or were scared of change, I wish someone would have told me I was believing a very effective lie from satan that he was winning in my mind to keep me away from truly having a relationship with God. Because God isn't about trying to catch me breaking the rules or making me toe the line or scaring me to obey or he'll send me to hell. He's about love, forgiveness and acceptance and sending His son to die on the cross for you and me.

We spent most of the rest of the day relaxing after all the walking of the previous days. It was nice to enjoy a slower pace for one day. Absorbed in the beautiful scenery from the back door: while watching the Oscars on the tv: I think their view over the kitchen sink might inspire me to do dishes more often: Uncle Bruce and Aunt Saundra did quite a bit of remodeling after they bought their house, they have great taste. We played a card game called Schukens at this table a couple of times while we were there.


Here's a video clip from my camera of the backyard view. I'm sure this is the reason why home prices are 4 times as much as they are in Texas. (Update) It worked when I first downloaded..... hhmm I'll work on it

Day 4- Mission Trails, La Jolla & the USS Midway

We started the day driving through Mission Trails Regional Park


Then we were off to La Jolla which was stunning, this was Billy's favorite part of the vacation. La Jolla is a higher scale beach front area, further north of San Diego:







Our last sight for the day was a tour aboard the aircraft carrier museum USS Midway right off downtown San Diego. Going with Uncle Bruce who is retired from the navy and the fact that my grandfather served in the Air Force made it very special. This would have been great for a high school field trip, it made history come alive for me. I took a ton more pictures, if you're interested they are on my facebook page.







I mentioned on the first day we stocked up on a few snack foods for our kitchenette at the hotel, but for the most part we ate out. This was a very healthy place, similiar to our Souper Salad restaurants here in Dallas: