The night before Middle School Career Day! I have been looking forward to getting the preparation and events over with for a month now. We knew the month of April was going to be filled with business and stress, and it is one day from being complete. I usually try not to wish my days away, but this month has been exceptional in many ways. Each day was a new adventure and not always a good one. We put the condo on the market (and it sold--while Kevin was in India!), Kevin was obviously out of the country for 10 days, we worked fast and furious on adoption paperwork before he left, and now some of that will need to be re-done when we know our new address (oh well)! I (with great help), organized and put on a Fun Carnival night for my middle school students, and now I am one day from having Career Day behind me. It was a lot to undertake, but it has worked out to be a wonderful month!
The plan going forward is to see as many houses as humanly possible this weekend. We would like to put in an offer soon, so that we can move in early June (the buyer closes on our Condo on June 15th). We have some more paperwork to accomplish, and we are excited to attend our 1st part of the Parenting in Process class on May 7 and 8! We have been looking over the curriculum for the weekend, and much to our relief it will answer some of the many questions floating in our minds (i.e.--how does one talk to child about adoption, how does one take steps to successfully be a multi-cultural family, etc.) Will keep this updated on the many wonderful lessons we learn. Also, looking forward to networking with families that are going through this process at the same time!
A little plug--If you notice the graphic on the upper-right of this page, you will see the outline of Africa and a saying that is quickly becoming dear to my heart. "5 million children looking for a heart to call home." The graphic was made (with major help from a beautiful friend, AMO). Our hope is to make that graphic into a T-shirt and to sell them. We would use the $ to put toward a gift for the agency/orphanage supporting our baby. It just feels like they do so much to nurture so many little ones and to help them find "forever families," and we want to find a way to say a little extra "thank you" and provide them with a few extra blessings. You will not be harassed into purchasing a shirt, but if you want to support our cause, we will hopefully have more information very soon. Thanks AMO for your help in cleaning up my idea! xoxo
I am about to be an "auntie," when a great friend (CJV) gives birth to her first baby (hopefully in the next week), keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Let that Light Shine
My little sister used to have an endearing way of counting down to something she was looking forward to, so 3 more sleeps until Kevin gets back from India! I know, I know, we have spent time at a distance before, but I was surrounded by good friends/roommates. Now, I am a grown-up and had to do responsible things like go to work and prep the house for 7 showings while he was gone. I did have an impromptu date with a lovely lady (and it went a little too late into the night for the both of us!)
I don't want this blog to become a spot where all I write about is the problems I encounter, because Kevin and I have so many blessings in our lives, and we are keenly aware of them (most of the time). However, this month has been unique. Just a lot of extraneous stuff and stress happening at the same time. Less than a week from now, I will be all happy wappy and wondering why I was complaining about April in the first place.
Let's recap the last few days. Kevin left a week ago for India. He had an incredibly long journey out, because the Volcano in Iceland made it impossible for him to travel through Europe. Instead, his trek was Cedar Rapids, Chicago, Tokyo, Bangkok, Mumbai and finally Hyderabad, India. He experienced a little culture shock right away, but has adjusted and enjoyed his time and work there. He is ready for some regular food though!
We had 2 offers fall through on the Condo last week, but we had 7 showings this weekend. Something to be truly grateful when selling a house, but when you have to leave with your dog and can't take a walk due to rain, it becomes taxing and eats up your entire weekend (trust me). I rushed home from work on Friday to get the dog out for a showing, and when we were getting in the car I spilled 3/4 of a can of Diet Coke on the driver's seat. Cleaned it up the best I could and switched cars. During the 10 am showing on Saturday, my car started to overheat. I ended up parking a few blocks from home and shutting it off. When I knew it was safe to go home I got the car home and decided to leave it so Kevin could fix it when he got home :). I was in between showings and decided to make a quick lunch. Unfortunately, the next showing popped by 40 minutes early! I was so flustered. I shoved my lunch in the fridge, shut off the garbage TV show I was watching and told them to come on in. I grabbed the dog and we headed out. Once outside, I quickly realized that I failed to grab car keys or the dog leash. My next door neighbor kindly took us in! Came back home to eat lunch and get ready to leave for the open house. I was now driving the non-broken vehicle but it was low on gas. Not a problem, just get to a gas station, right? WRONG! I pulled in only to find out my wallet had been left behind in the broken car. Great! I didn't want to chance it since I had driven 20 miles home from work the day before and was afraid of running on fumes. So, Diogee and I parked a few blocks from home and shut the car off. It was pouring so we stayed in the car and napped together.
I was relieved to have the day of showings over with. Our sweet realtor called and said that she didn't get any great feelings from the weekends showing, but assured me she would follow up with everyone. I was feeling a little blue about that, but she called a few hours later to ask if one of the prospective buyers could come for a 3rd showing Sunday morning. On the one hand, great news!!!! On the other, I was mourning the loss of staying in bed for a few extra hours. She also asked me if I would be willing to clean the outside of our basement window. It was all mucky due to the monsoon rains we had been having all day, which caused water and mud to splash on it. When I got home, I went downstairs to see if I could figure out how to pop the screen out. To my surprise, I found a rather serious window leak. Great, just what you want when someone is coming back to look at your home (sarcasm)! I called both Kevin in India and our realtor in tears. It took some doing, but both gave me a better perspective. (One of those times when I needed to be reminded I will survive and have many things to be thankful for). Well, I soaked 4 towels throughout the night trying to keep the water cleaned up, but prayers were answered and the rain stopped in the morning (and so did the leak!) We did disclose the problem to the possible buyer with assurances we would have the Association Board over to look at/fix the problem. After all this mess, WE GOT AN OFFER! Let's hope the 3rd time is the charm and this one sticks! We should know more by Tuesday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed!
Well, this was clearly an all too lengthy post, and it is past my bedtime. I just thought I should get that all of my chest (even though I have already texted/e-mailed and called many about these events! I am done with all of that now (well, I will probably tell a few co-workers, but I deserve forgiveness because Kevin isn't here to share and vent with!)
Have a wonderful week! Love!
I don't want this blog to become a spot where all I write about is the problems I encounter, because Kevin and I have so many blessings in our lives, and we are keenly aware of them (most of the time). However, this month has been unique. Just a lot of extraneous stuff and stress happening at the same time. Less than a week from now, I will be all happy wappy and wondering why I was complaining about April in the first place.
Let's recap the last few days. Kevin left a week ago for India. He had an incredibly long journey out, because the Volcano in Iceland made it impossible for him to travel through Europe. Instead, his trek was Cedar Rapids, Chicago, Tokyo, Bangkok, Mumbai and finally Hyderabad, India. He experienced a little culture shock right away, but has adjusted and enjoyed his time and work there. He is ready for some regular food though!
We had 2 offers fall through on the Condo last week, but we had 7 showings this weekend. Something to be truly grateful when selling a house, but when you have to leave with your dog and can't take a walk due to rain, it becomes taxing and eats up your entire weekend (trust me). I rushed home from work on Friday to get the dog out for a showing, and when we were getting in the car I spilled 3/4 of a can of Diet Coke on the driver's seat. Cleaned it up the best I could and switched cars. During the 10 am showing on Saturday, my car started to overheat. I ended up parking a few blocks from home and shutting it off. When I knew it was safe to go home I got the car home and decided to leave it so Kevin could fix it when he got home :). I was in between showings and decided to make a quick lunch. Unfortunately, the next showing popped by 40 minutes early! I was so flustered. I shoved my lunch in the fridge, shut off the garbage TV show I was watching and told them to come on in. I grabbed the dog and we headed out. Once outside, I quickly realized that I failed to grab car keys or the dog leash. My next door neighbor kindly took us in! Came back home to eat lunch and get ready to leave for the open house. I was now driving the non-broken vehicle but it was low on gas. Not a problem, just get to a gas station, right? WRONG! I pulled in only to find out my wallet had been left behind in the broken car. Great! I didn't want to chance it since I had driven 20 miles home from work the day before and was afraid of running on fumes. So, Diogee and I parked a few blocks from home and shut the car off. It was pouring so we stayed in the car and napped together.
I was relieved to have the day of showings over with. Our sweet realtor called and said that she didn't get any great feelings from the weekends showing, but assured me she would follow up with everyone. I was feeling a little blue about that, but she called a few hours later to ask if one of the prospective buyers could come for a 3rd showing Sunday morning. On the one hand, great news!!!! On the other, I was mourning the loss of staying in bed for a few extra hours. She also asked me if I would be willing to clean the outside of our basement window. It was all mucky due to the monsoon rains we had been having all day, which caused water and mud to splash on it. When I got home, I went downstairs to see if I could figure out how to pop the screen out. To my surprise, I found a rather serious window leak. Great, just what you want when someone is coming back to look at your home (sarcasm)! I called both Kevin in India and our realtor in tears. It took some doing, but both gave me a better perspective. (One of those times when I needed to be reminded I will survive and have many things to be thankful for). Well, I soaked 4 towels throughout the night trying to keep the water cleaned up, but prayers were answered and the rain stopped in the morning (and so did the leak!) We did disclose the problem to the possible buyer with assurances we would have the Association Board over to look at/fix the problem. After all this mess, WE GOT AN OFFER! Let's hope the 3rd time is the charm and this one sticks! We should know more by Tuesday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed!
Well, this was clearly an all too lengthy post, and it is past my bedtime. I just thought I should get that all of my chest (even though I have already texted/e-mailed and called many about these events! I am done with all of that now (well, I will probably tell a few co-workers, but I deserve forgiveness because Kevin isn't here to share and vent with!)
Have a wonderful week! Love!
Friday, April 16, 2010
What A Day...
Well, I am too exhausted to do anything other than type this from our couch. It has been kind of a rough day/week. Like I've said, April was expected to be rough one, and we are only half way through!
We had 2 offers on the condo on Wednesday. 1 of them feel through due to lack of financing options, and the other fell through due to a divorce settlement getting in the way. We are still confused on the full complexity of that situation. So, we went from an extreme high thinking that we were almost certainly going to sell our home and rush into finding a new home for our growing family, to the low of being back in the limbo stage of not knowing exactly what the immediate future holds for us.
Along with the limbo theme, Kevin is not certain how his trip to India will pan out. Who knew a volcano exploding in Iceland would have such a profound effect on our immediate lives. He was suppose to fly into Amsterdam for a 1 night layover before continuing onto Mumbai. At this point, he is fairly certain that he will still get there, but he might have to go via China instead of Amsterdam. Could be an interesting weekend as all of those details get sorted out!
We were thinking we would be spending the weekend house hunting before he left, but instead we are back to cleaning the condo to a shine in preparation for an open house on Sunday. Let's pray someone bites! All of this craziness took place on a day where I worked a 14 hour day because I was in charge of "Middle School Fun Night." We had 276 kids out of 400 show up. I think they all had a blast, but I was left exhausted. Instead of breathing a sigh of relief when all was cleaned up at 9:40 tonight, I kept thinking to myself, "Self, how are you going to get everything done for Middle School Career Day in 2 weeks?" Thankfully, I have some great co-workers who will get me through to the end! Oh, and to top off the craziness of Fun Night, I got pulled over on my way home! Through my tears, I assured the very nice police officer that I did come to a complete stop at the sign. In the end, he believed me ;) and just gave me a verbal warning. Whew!
Poor Kevin, I came home to him in tears about how I couldn't do anything right, including drive home from work without getting pulled over! It was just one of those days, and he was sweet enough to remind me that we have so many things to be thankful for that I can't afford to let a few hiccups along the journey get me down. He is right. Shhhhh, don't tell him I said that. Seriously, though he is right. We are very fortunate. Again, not much to report on the adoption front at this point. Just trying to survive April and get so many of the other things in our lives in order so we can march on to our "Parenting in Process" class the first weekend in May. Definitely looking forward to that. It will be a great networking piece with other families in the adoption process, and we will finally be able to schedule our official homestudy! Woot!
Loves!
We had 2 offers on the condo on Wednesday. 1 of them feel through due to lack of financing options, and the other fell through due to a divorce settlement getting in the way. We are still confused on the full complexity of that situation. So, we went from an extreme high thinking that we were almost certainly going to sell our home and rush into finding a new home for our growing family, to the low of being back in the limbo stage of not knowing exactly what the immediate future holds for us.
Along with the limbo theme, Kevin is not certain how his trip to India will pan out. Who knew a volcano exploding in Iceland would have such a profound effect on our immediate lives. He was suppose to fly into Amsterdam for a 1 night layover before continuing onto Mumbai. At this point, he is fairly certain that he will still get there, but he might have to go via China instead of Amsterdam. Could be an interesting weekend as all of those details get sorted out!
We were thinking we would be spending the weekend house hunting before he left, but instead we are back to cleaning the condo to a shine in preparation for an open house on Sunday. Let's pray someone bites! All of this craziness took place on a day where I worked a 14 hour day because I was in charge of "Middle School Fun Night." We had 276 kids out of 400 show up. I think they all had a blast, but I was left exhausted. Instead of breathing a sigh of relief when all was cleaned up at 9:40 tonight, I kept thinking to myself, "Self, how are you going to get everything done for Middle School Career Day in 2 weeks?" Thankfully, I have some great co-workers who will get me through to the end! Oh, and to top off the craziness of Fun Night, I got pulled over on my way home! Through my tears, I assured the very nice police officer that I did come to a complete stop at the sign. In the end, he believed me ;) and just gave me a verbal warning. Whew!
Poor Kevin, I came home to him in tears about how I couldn't do anything right, including drive home from work without getting pulled over! It was just one of those days, and he was sweet enough to remind me that we have so many things to be thankful for that I can't afford to let a few hiccups along the journey get me down. He is right. Shhhhh, don't tell him I said that. Seriously, though he is right. We are very fortunate. Again, not much to report on the adoption front at this point. Just trying to survive April and get so many of the other things in our lives in order so we can march on to our "Parenting in Process" class the first weekend in May. Definitely looking forward to that. It will be a great networking piece with other families in the adoption process, and we will finally be able to schedule our official homestudy! Woot!
Loves!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Cracking under the stress of April???
Kevin may be cracking under the stress of everything we have going on this month! He is leaving for India in 10 days, and work has been crazy for him getting ready for that. We cannot live in our own filth anymore because we put the condo up for sale this week, so we have been working hard to keep it gleaming clean for showings. Plus, we are trying to finish the majority of our paperwork before he leaves for India and that is proving to be a quite a task...
HERE is the funny part...I was at water aerobics this evening and after I got out of the shower I checked my phone. I had a ton of text messages from Kevin. I thought there was some sort of emergency, and I came to find out that he had locked himself out on the deck while grilling dinner. He didn't want to jump off because he wasn't wearing any shoes. Good thing he and Diogee were only out there for 20 minutes. It was getting pretty chilly out there with the sun going down. The real funny part was the look on Kevin and Diogee's faces when I finally walked in the door. Too funny for words. Well, that is the best I can do for post #2. Nothing else to report other than needing to have our Dr. redo a couple of our forms....I'm sure this won't be the last glitch with paperwork, so we will just cope and adapt. Loves!
HERE is the funny part...I was at water aerobics this evening and after I got out of the shower I checked my phone. I had a ton of text messages from Kevin. I thought there was some sort of emergency, and I came to find out that he had locked himself out on the deck while grilling dinner. He didn't want to jump off because he wasn't wearing any shoes. Good thing he and Diogee were only out there for 20 minutes. It was getting pretty chilly out there with the sun going down. The real funny part was the look on Kevin and Diogee's faces when I finally walked in the door. Too funny for words. Well, that is the best I can do for post #2. Nothing else to report other than needing to have our Dr. redo a couple of our forms....I'm sure this won't be the last glitch with paperwork, so we will just cope and adapt. Loves!
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Beginning
Well, here we go...this is the beginning of my opening up our life and journey for all those to access and read. I probably won't post much over the next few months until I grow more comfortable with this and have a little more time on my hands!
If you know me, you know that I tend to talk about one subject for inordinate amounts of time. I have to analyze all of the "what ifs" and possible angles, you know! Well, currently that topic is the journey to adopt a child from Ethiopia, and I thought instead of putting everyone through very long and detailed phone calls and text and e-mail trades, this would be a way for you to check in with us if you want, and not if you don't (but, I am still up for the phone/texts/e-mails!) We are only about a month into the process, so we have quite a journey ahead of us. So far we are enjoying the process, even though the paperwork seems a tad overwhelming at times.
We appreciate the support, love and prayers that we are surrounded by. I look forward to communicating with you all via this blog.
If you know me, you know that I tend to talk about one subject for inordinate amounts of time. I have to analyze all of the "what ifs" and possible angles, you know! Well, currently that topic is the journey to adopt a child from Ethiopia, and I thought instead of putting everyone through very long and detailed phone calls and text and e-mail trades, this would be a way for you to check in with us if you want, and not if you don't (but, I am still up for the phone/texts/e-mails!) We are only about a month into the process, so we have quite a journey ahead of us. So far we are enjoying the process, even though the paperwork seems a tad overwhelming at times.
We appreciate the support, love and prayers that we are surrounded by. I look forward to communicating with you all via this blog.
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