Gues what???

The cheque was in the mail today!!! We are officially out of our line of credit AND have enough money to pay for our homestudy!!! So tomorrow we'll probably be getting in touch with our homestudy practitioner to set up an appointment. Can you believe it??

Ok, the lack of sleep the last few nights has caught up to me, and Reagan is waiting for me to do a Sudoku puzzle with him before going to bed... so I'm off.

:-)

Tired!

I'm kind of surprised how well i've managed most of the day with the little sleep i've had... Friday night my brother in Australia was on skype with my sister (who lives a few streets over from us), and they decided to try a conference call to us (on our phone ~ since we hadn't connected to skype yet ~ and even after we've signed up, we don't have the headset yet). That was awesome! We hadn't talked with Larry since he was out for Christmas break. A few emails here & there, and communicating some by blog, but it was good to hear his voice again. We had a very interesting discussion, and by 1:00am (they called us about 10:30) we had made arrangements that he'd call again on Sunday night (after our company left). So between 9:30-10:00 pm we were talking again... this time til well after 1:30.

Originally we thought we'd be able to sleep in Monday morning if necessary (Jonathan has most mornings off this month ~ still haven't figured out how that happened, but i'll just enjoy it), but Sunday afternoon Sherry called to see if i could watch the boys from 7-3:30 on Monday (she was asked to take a day shift), so I was up by 6:40 or so this morning. Fun, fun?? lol... it actually went fairly well and i hardly noticed i was tired until i began reading stories to the little boys thinking they might fall asleep (nap-time). Then i got tired, and Maison "tucked me in" with the blankie i'd pulled out for him ~ ha ha. At first he took the other end of the couch and we shared the blankie, but then he got up and looked at me for a while (my eyes were closed ~ mostly), and went off to play. I was half-way dozing for a bit, so that probably helped me through the rest of the afternoon, and doing some flashcards with the kids this evening nearly put me to sleep again. So i know where i need to be now :-)

I have to be there by 7am again tomorrow morning, but just for about an hour, and then they'll be over for a few hours later in the afternoon. Between that i have a meeting. Darwin is also working tomorrow, so i'll probably be picking them up (hopefully they're done a bit earlier tomorrow than they were today) and then taking Janique to her riding lessons.

We're just waiting for our check already (knowing it's coming sometime this month, but not sure when), to bring us to the point where we can (pay for and) begin our homestudy. Of course there will be enough other expenses pretty quickly too, so i really don't know where the money will all come from for that, and i guess honestly, i'm not sure exactly what God's thoughts are on that ~ should we be looking at a loan? (or refinancing)? or is He asking us to trust Him to provide the money each step of the way?? (and that we shoudn't do anything about it?).

But i'm probably a little too tired to really be trying to wrap my mind around it all right now ~ lol. Guess it's just bedtime!

I feel like i'm moving away a bit from the major questioning stage of "are we REALLY ready to move ahead with adoption and all?" "is this for sure the right thing for us to do?" to a more peaceful or "matter-of-factly" it's time to mail our applications, and within a few days we should hopefully be able to make our appointment to begin our homestudy. (Not that i don't question it at all, but not as much... it's more settled in my mind now, i think).

We are, for the moment, once again out of our line of credit. The last time we made it to the plus side of our account, I don't think it lasted the day; and by tomorrow I'm pretty sure the next transaction will have gone through bringing us below 0 again. BUT, by the end of this week we should be clear again... and by the end of the month, we "should" have more than enough to pay for our homestudy. (Btw, we decided to put off buying a new bed until Boxing Day ~ and hope for a great deal at that time... but we haven't done our vehicle work yet ~ tires on one, and shocks on the other).

Darwin is getting a bit tired of his job. It IS physically demanding ~ he's just not big enough and strong enough to do the job really well yet. Plus, the air/dust seems to be bothering him a bit ~ he says he's always coughing later. We're not going to make him stay... it's totally up to him. It's been nice for him to have a source of income, but if it's just too much, it's just too much. So we'll see... he's talking like he'll go til the end of the month.

Brenden's chore this month is washing dishes (just the ones that don't typically go in the dishwasher)... but he really dislikes the chore. So he offered he'd make meals if i did dishes for him. It's been ... interesting. (I've done a lot of "helping" and pinch-hitting). Today he was really stressed because he has a habit of turning on the wrong burner, and today he did it twice for one meal. Of course, he turned it right up to max (trying to boil water). The "wrong" burner had a dirty frying pan, so it cooked on real hard (and made a lovely smell ~ not ~ lol). There were a few other little issues that just made for an overall "less than pleasant" experience in the kitchen today, but i think he's more stressed at the idea of possibly having to do dishes than the stress of cooking. I think he'd do better with a stove top that has the dials right beside the burners.

Oh, btw, we did mail our applications to the agency and to community resources (provincial application for international adoption). I was a bit surprised at Reagan's reaction when I mentioned that we'd mailed them... so far he's been sounding very interested and excited, but today he sounded different. He's been really certain about wanting a brother, and the rest of us have been thinking we prefer a girl & boy, but would consider two girls... so because we talked a bit about that earlier, he might be reacting to that... unless it's the "baby of the family" thing... not wanting to give up his spot ??? Not that he was really bothered by it, but just didn't respond with the enthusiasm that i've been used to hearing from him. I'll be chatting with him about it more...

Remember when we began looking for a practitioner to do our home study ~ we have 5 people to choose from in our area, but one was on leave at that time, so we didn't contact her. We had narrowed it down to two, and now that we're thinking we're nearly ready to begin (just waiting for finances to be at a particular place and that should be this month some time), we are trying to decide. Earlier this week I called one of the two we were considering (the one recommended by another family ~ altho the other one sounded more interested at that time), but haven't heard back from her. I've been praying for God to lead us to the one who will be best for us, so then i prayed specifically that if she wasn't the one for us that she wouldn't call back. So far she hasn't, and now that's ok with me.

After thinking about it a few times, i decided to email the lady who was on leave to see if she is back to work. Within an hour i had a reply and she's back! I am so excited ~ i think she might be the one! Doesn't it just sound like God's leading??

Just need to decide if i book anything before the money is actually in our hands, or if we move ahead in faith... oh my! i can hardly believe we might actually be moving ahead with this...

Almost reminds me of my engagement... "am i SURE this is the right thing to do? Is this really God's best for me?" Lol... such a hard time with decisions... even after making them.

So today i've been waiting to hear back from this lady ~ i had a few questions for her ~ and i haven't heard anything yet.

I'm wondering though too... my kids aren't terribly excited that we're baby-sitting another day shift tomorrow. Sounds like they are getting a bit annoyed with the little boys ~ they do follow them around like puppies on a leash (or maybe more like cats?? lol)... even to the bathroom apparently ~ lol. Darwin said they followed him there the other day and asked "you going pee?" (Oh right, besides following us everywhere, lots of questions ~ ha ha). Part of it is just getting used to our kids doing school ~ and as long as my kids are doing school, the little boys are not allowed to bug them (we're still working at enforcing that ~ but Darwin now loves doing his school in his bedroom where he's usually undisturbed). So anyway, I asked my kids if they really thought our adopted children would be much different?? Hmm, what do you all think??? Maybe it'll be different because at first we won't understand a word they say (except what we have learned in Amharic by then ~ so far we've learned one word ~ "shinti" ~ a very helpful word to know... can you guess what it is?).

Anyway, we mailed our application for the adoption grant through Orphan's Hope. We certainly "qualify" by the financial standards, but the draw like a lottery, so it's a wait and see. I did hear at one point that most families do eventually win, so of course we'll be hoping it will come to us as well.

But, it's now past my "bed-time" (meaning the time i was "hoping" to be in bed tonight)...

Has it really been almost a month since my last post?? I'm not sure where to start... it almost seems that not much has changed since the last post, although for the last few weeks i've been thinking i really should get blogging because my mind has certainly been busy.

Jonathan put in 240 hours of work in September ~ that explains why it seemed like he was never home (and i confess, i was somewhat frustrated by that at times). On a brighter note, it is a financial provision that i can be thankful for as we are trying to save up to begin the adoption process. Officially, as of this morning, we are out of our line of credit... by less than $25, but hey! it's above $0!!! even if it is only for a few hours ~ lol. And our "homestudy fund" is over $400, so almost half-way there. Another blessing... i get the boys for 3 day shifts this week, plus a few hours on the other days.

Now that we're getting close to moving ahead, there's a variety of mixed emotions (well, that doesn't sound like anything new). Ya kind of get to a point where ya just need to decide what ya want and go with it! (I guess for us, we just can't say "no" so we gotta move ahead ~ lol).

I did manage to put a bit of "reality" into it all for the kids ~ after a few day shifts in a row, I challenged them with the question, "suppose we were going to adopt the two boys we babysit... how would you feel about that?" They weren't too excited about that ~ which had me wondering why not?? The answers i got were a little surprising... things like "he's too loud ~ we'd have to teach him to be quieter" and "they'd have to learn to get along with each other." Guess what?? International adoption "could" be a LOT more challenging than that... are you sure you still want to adopt? So there was a bit of re-consideration, but after a bit of time to think about it all, they're still saying "yes." Brenden might be a bit cautious still... but unless he's keeping things from us, his concerns aren't too big ("no, i won't expect you to change dirty diapers" ~ lol).

Oh, after a crazy-busy month of work for Jonathan (they switched him over to doing more feeding, etc. instead of just milking, so there was some extra training/learning time for mixing feeds/rations), we're confused about his October schedule. He's got every morning off except the weekends that he's working. Only three night milkings all month too. It's nice that he's getting such a big break, but if he's only working one shift a day, we'll notice it on the month-end pay cheque. The junior boss talked earlier about freeing him up some to do some welding around the farm, but the senior boss doesn't seem interested in having him do any welding. Oh well... he might end up with lots of hours anyway because they've decided to add a second person to do the night milkings. We're happy about that because on his own it would take Jonathan til well after 3am most nights. They are also considering going back to two milkings, but will try some changes to the feeding rations first. They just haven't seen the milk production go up like it should have.

Ok, i better run... Jonathan is on his way home and we're going shopping. Yipee! (Not about spending money ~ although i'm excited to save $30 on our purchase ~ but about spending time with Jonathan ~ and we don't mind grocery shopping most of the time).

I feel like i've had a good day! That's a great feeling! Tired, yes, but otherwise i sure can't complain.

I woke to a phone call this morning at 6:50am... "sorry to bother you so early, but can you watch the boys for the day shift?" (instead of just the 2 1/2 hours this afternoon).

"Um, ya, sure." I was kind of expecting to be watching my nephews from 9:30-7:00 (Robbie ~ the one that keeps us all BUSY ~ lol ~ and his brother Andrew), so we didn't have any other plans ~ didn't even plan to do any school. Sure, i'll watch them.

So about 10min. later I was over at their house. She told me later that her boss (or co-worker?) had been impressed ~ she managed to get a sitter and be at work in 15min. The boys were still sleeping, so when they got up and dressed we came back here.

I ended up not having my nephews, which was fine, but I see this as one more way that God is providing... AND, I get them for another day shift tomorrow as well (also a change from the original plans). The boys really seem to like it here, and we like them too :-) so it's been a good thing for all of us.

I've been a little impatient with our bank account situation... i think we are ready to apply for adoption and begin our homestudy just as soon as we have enough money set aside for the home study (AND are out of our line of credit), but just when it looked like we were almost out of our line of credit again, we're back in WAY too far! With Jonathan's raise, and my baby-sitting, plus a tax break for families that leaves us a little more on Jonathan's pay check each month, (all of which do make a little difference), i was hoping to see a bigger difference by now, but I guess we had a lot of catching up to do after paying property taxes (almost $3000) and building the deck ($1000). I'm trying not to be impatient though because i really don't want to run ahead of God with the adoption thing either. We just feel at this point that our "green light" will be when we're out of our line of credit and have $800-$1000 saved for home study. (Oh, i have been putting some of my baby-sitting money into savings for that, so i'm almost up to $400 there).

Oh right, i also got to baby-sit for my sister last week Friday. Their 7yr. old foster child is no longer with them, but they have another baby ~ 11 mos. old. So doing 2 babies was a novelty here ~ and a bit of an adventure. One of them had a few VERY messy diapers that I needed help with ~ lol ~ and the little boy got a bath out of the deal too. Something about watching these babies though (and i've fallen in love with the other one by now ~ we'll all miss him when he moves on) makes me almost want to adopt a baby too (like a baby with an older sister)... but i'm not totally convinced yet, and Jonathan even less so. He enjoys the babies, but... well, he says he likes to spoil them and send them home.

Janique has started therapeudic riding and absolutely LOVES it! I'm a little concerned how we'll keep her content when the 5 months are over ~ it's really quite expensive on our budget, but i think it's a good thing for her, so probably worth the money at this point ~ just not sure that we'll be able to keep her in it long term. Maybe we can find something more affordable if it's not necessarily "therapeudic"... guess we'll see.

Well, i better get going... tomorrow morning is another early one...

It's been a while since i've been here and i'm almost too tired to start an update now, but i the longer i wait, the more "behind" i get.

Last weekend we went to Manitoba for Jonathan's brother's wedding. We left early Friday morning, spent the day at the Science Centre in Regina (and Imax ~ we watched "Deep Sea"), then drove another hour and a half to Whitewood where we stayed with friends for the night. We had a lovely time there (the boys had almost too much fun ~ lol), and a great breakfast (thanks Andrea!)

Saturday morning (not as early this time) we headed out for Winnipeg (area) to my brother and sister-in-law's place. It worked out well that we were there for my youngest nephew's birthday ~ we got to celebrate with him. We also got to check out a dairy farm that is installing robotic milkers. That was a highlight for Jonathan. They'd only started using the robots on Tuesday so they were still trying to get it all working smoothly (it takes a few weeks for the cows to adjust, etc.), but it was fascinating.

That night, Reagan was saying he was cold, but he didn't feel cold to me... we were all a bit sleep-deprived, so i chalked it up to that, but prayed for good health for us all anyway.

Sunday morning we got to Winkler (near Plum Coulee where the wedding was going to be), and joined Jonathan's family and some aunts & uncles for brunch at Smitty's. Reagan wasn't feeling great... he hadn't been too interested in breakfast earlier, but eventually managed a bit of yogurt. Now he wanted a waffle with whipped cream and strawberries ~ and he did manage to eat half of it. But still, he was feeling cold from time to time, and didn't look quite right.

Family pictures were at a beautiful park in a nearby town... we were told for 2:00, but apparently that was just an attempt at making sure everyone was there on time (which was actually 2:30)... so we were all early ~ lol. Reagan lay down on the grass and had a good rest.

The wedding was a 4:00 and lasted the rest of the day. It was beautiful! Jonathan & I both found ourselves fighting tears. We could feel the presence of the Lord ~ He was/is so evident in their lives and their wedding ceremony reflected a relationship build on a Godly foundation. We're excited to see how God will work in and through them. There were plenty of laughs during the reception too, and I find myself wishing we lived closer to them that we could get to know them better...

Anyway, i hear there's a chance of frost tonight, so i better cover my tomato plants...