T- 6

Another day at home with no children in the house. Not sure I could get used to this. I would probably start talking to myself....even answering.

Today I finished the ID holders I've been meaning to make. I was going to just buy some, but the $8 each price tag stopped me. I went searching for a pattern and found a free pattern! check out studio kat  and search for the ID holder.

 No I'm not going to let the kids carry their own passports...I just want to have some sort of ID and hotel info on each of them. Can you tell that "many doubts and fears assail"?  You wouldn't believe the "what-ifs" my brain is bringing up these days. I know that fear is not from God, so I keep handing each one of them over to Him. 

While I was posting this I just got a notice that our hotel rates had changed...of course I figured the worst. (it said "sorry") but the rates had gone down by $10 per night...well, well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T- 8

Yeah, I know I skipped a few days...DH informed me I was not counting
my days properly...probably cause I wanted to tell myself I had more
days to get ready... We are leaving Sept 7 very early, so we have 7, 8,
or 9 days....

Anyway I got this Christmas quilt finished and out of the house,(and she
paid me). Now I can concentrate on packing and figuring out what to do
with a basket of jalapeno peppers that are in my garden.

t -12

Today Little Sister needed a nap in the morning, Kindergarten wore her out and it didn't help when I told her she wasn't allowed to "just type" on the new, cute little laptop.

We decided to buy one of the Netbooks. The big computer guys, say they are too little and we won't be happy with it as our only computer.

But parents that have made this trip say the little size is a plus. And what we really bought it for was to stay in contact with home and to store our pictures.So in a few weeks we will know if this was  wise use of our money. I certainly hope so.

Take a look at Command Central

First Day of School (T -13)

This is a first for me. I will enjoy it while it lasts. EVERYONE went to school and just me and stinky(skunk) dog stayed at home. I took 3 pictures in a rush and this is the best one !! (gotta work on that)

I cleaned up the house

Made granola

Did laundry

Bought Liang a backpack

Worked on the ID tags for the trip (will show you when they are finished.

T-14

Today-
Made applesauce....4 baskets with help from the "under aged kids in
this house"

Went to three banks to collect those nice crisp Benjamin Franklins

Went for my ma**ogram (schedule yours)

Collected 3 prescriptions for Ci*ro

Our Sabbath

Yesterday morning when Big brother #2 was getting dressed for church

he said "Hey mom, look at this."

He showed me his leg....

Yep the target rash that you hear about with Lyme's Disease. We e-mailed
a picture to the doctor on call and she called in a script to Wa*mart.
Assured us that the rash is a very early sign and antibiotics should
take care of it.... I pray she is right

We had a wonderful sermon on "Believing God's Truths" about really
honestly believing what God says is true even when "circumstances and
feelings" make us look around at the "waves" and we want to ask "Master
do you care that we perish?" Mark 4 was the scripture that the
minister used for an illustration.
I have this feeling we will need to keep being reminded of this in the
coming weeks and months...

Then as I was making lunch....we had fireworks....suddenly a loud
electrical buzzing and fire shot out from under my kettle...my cooking
is not that bad! We turned off the burner and the burner indicator
light stayed on. We looked at the underside of the burner after it
cooled....this is what we saw. The burner blew a hole...Rats! I was
hoping this stove would go on another 24 years. Replacing a burner and
the switch would probably cost 1/4 the price of a new stove....for now I
will work on 3 burners.

 

After lunch we drove to Philly to meet some special friends. We were
paper pregnant together and became parents together in a room in
Yang*hun, C*ina. It is so neat to get the girls together and watch them
grow. One of the four families has moved so we don't get to see them
very often, but the bond between us is special. Then one of the mom's
came carrying a big blue bag....full of boy stuff!! They had a shower
for us (sniff) thanks guys....older adoptions don't quite get the same
notice as baby additions.

 

What an up and down day! Oh yeah, remember the sermon..."feelings do not equate facts"

So I will remember the good stuff and be thankful...we saw the rash (they fade quickly)...and there are 3 working burners on the stove. And of course, good friends.

As I'm typing this the dog got sprayed by a skunk....do I need to use
all my tomato juice for a doggy bath tonite??!! I think she will sleep
on the porch for now...this lady needs her bed.

God's Stop Signs

This whole adoption has been one step of faith at a time.

The first one when we sent in the LOI. We didn't qualify (income). We also didn't know if we were just reacting to a cute face and personality (there was video). Was he really the right kid for our family? I never looked at lists for our other adoptions. I was very happy to let someone else do the matching.

So we filled in the LOI knowing that we did not qualify and prayed "God please stop this adoption if it is not your will"

In the five weeks we waited, my heart didn't know which way to lean...relief...OK the answer is "no". Now we can get on with life as we know it.

But what then?What was in store for that little boy?

So we reminded God again...

Well, we got the PA, we got the home study, we got the I-8**, the fingerprints went wonderfully.

Originally we thought we would travel in June or July and when the wait stretched I became impatient.

But THEN I looked at plane ticket prices!  Ouch! OK God, now we know why we are waiting.

Last Monday morning I went online and checked the plane tickets again $777 round trip!!

I prayed "God this is the time, you know our finances better than we do"

That evening about supper time I got the call "your TA is in"

We also were working through another "problem". Our 19 y.o. would really like to travel with us again BUT he has a job and is taking college courses part-time.Was this the right thing for our son?  The boss was on vacation for a whole week and we waited for his decision. Finally Saturday AM the boss reluctantly said "OK". 

We had already agreed that if Big brother goes along he will come home after the Be*jing portion of our trip (10 days in our case).  

I was not really happy about putting my oldest son on a plane all by himself (yes I know there are a couple hundred other people on there too) in an airport in a foreign country.

Well Mon morning I got up and called the airline to confirm our tickets and order Big Brother's round trip ticket for the shorter version.

We confirmed all the tickets  $1081 including taxes and booking fees. Then we got to Big Brother's and his ticket price comes to:

$3551

GULP!   Ummmm.....Is that a stop sign God?

We decided that was a stop sign. It didn't make anyone real happy, but I do feel a calmness about our decision and Big Brother is OK with it. Did I ever mention he is a great kid? (Thanks Dude! I do love you)

Wonder What's in That Car?

My son's car had this rainbow poised over it. Of course he had to make
a crack about the pot that is in his car.

I told him I want the gold... don't worry I DID get the pun. (no he
can't have the pot)

Love those little promises the God sent our way.

I'll have to post about them later....

Two Little Letters

Alright, I've kept it in long enough....we have TA!!! It's driving me nuts though, we don't have confirmation on the Consulate appointment so I can't buy plane tickets yet. I'm sure that every day we wait the prices will be going up! I refuse to look at the sites and check!

Our tentative travel date is Sept 7th, which is the day I had jokingly been telling people when they kept asking "when are you going?"  I feel as though I'm frozen in place...I want to fill all the suitcases, but  I need/want to get those tickets off my list.

I know God has this under control, and His timing is perfect. I'm just hoping I'm not missing some cue here.

What To Do While You Wait for A TA

This was probably the longest week of my life....well maybe when I was overdue with one of the boys was longer.
So in order to pass the time...
I made three dresses....  well that is just two of them...I gotta work on my counting skills

I canned 28 quart of peaches......

Let grandma put a quilt in the frame in our basement..... it's for one of the bunk beds. It is for the penguin lover in our family.
I will need to post pictures of all the quilts when they are finally finished. All four beds will sort of match, but each quilt will have  a bit of individuality.

I certainly hope next week brings news or I may start painting or cleaning closets.

Look Who Flew Away!

On Saturday morning DH noticed that the caterpillar chrysalis had 
darkened and changed colors.

By afternoon Big Sister went past the box and noticed this beautiful new critter