Music, music, everywhere...

It's after midnight and I should be packing but I'm taking a much needed internet break. It's been a couple weeks since my last post so I'm going to take a time out from the madness and babble on my blog. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. Our house sold rather quickly so we've been trying to hustle to get our new house ready. The big thing is finishing wiring and framing so we can start drywalling Monday. We've got a big weekend ahead of us. In the mean time we are trying to do trips to Lowes, order cabinets, more Lowes, and of course packing since we'll be closing on our precious first house next Friday. So that catches you up to speed. Today I finally needed to get music back in my life. So I copied all my songs from my external hard drive and loaded them onto my computer and into itunes. Now I'm going to have wonderful company to help me pack tonight!! Yeah :)

Considering the craziness I just can't complain. Little man has been a champ through all the working out at the house and driving back and forth.

I try to limit the movies because of the trance he falls into when the TV is on (scary).

Hammering the floors for us

He's wondering what project to tackle next :)
Working at his tool bench from G'ma and G'pa.

Adoption: I think of our little baby in Ethiopia often but thankfully I have plenty of distractions right now. But my mind wanders to it throughout the day. Is he born yet? Is he safe? Healthy? I wonder about his parents? What they must be thinking about everyday? What struggles and challenges they are facing (how insignificant my dilemma's are)? I hope he is being loved and with his mother right now bringing her as much joy and happiness she can hold. I think of them!

How my dear husband gets his kicks....

We ordered Applebee's a couple nights ago and I asked Nathan to pick me up some ice cream and thank you cards for the guys that helped us install windows this weekend. He pretends to hear me and leaves. 20 minutes later (5 minutes after the food was supposed to be picked up) he calls and tells me he has forgotten what to get at the store. I refresh his memory and then tell him to forget about it and get the food (I hate cold carryout). I hang up the phone shaking my head. 10 more minutes pass and I'm talking to my mom on my cell and the house phone rings. I say to her "I sent Nathan out for a simple task and this is him calling confused". Sure enough it's Nathan wanting to know what kind of Thank you cards to get. At this point I try to remain calm and tell him to forget about the cards and get our food. NOW! Within 2 seconds of that the garage door opens and I realize he is home. I could have killed him but laughed instead. At this point my mom says, "how do you put up with him". I'll say no more.

Why don't I drink coffee?

Well it's officially 5 a.m.. After tossing and turning until 1:30, waking up at 3:30 when I was half asleep "installing windows" and finally at 4 I rose from the dreadful bed. I can't sleep b/c my stupid mind will not shut off. I've got a gazillion things running through my head including; how are we going to be ready to move in 3 weeks? where are we going to live while we finish our house? what should we tackle at the house? should I go to the hospital to get medication for this god awful sore throat/swollen glands that make it incredibly painful to swallow? How am I going to survive tomorrow? and of course why don't I drink coffee? Since motherhood has become a little stressful these past few weeks I think I'm going to learn to like coffee. I figured out how to like beer in college so I can make this work. While all of this is going on I keep thinking "why did I have to visit my sister and swim in the bacteria bath of a swimming pool down there?" (no offense Amber). I just should have stayed at home and worked on the house. But instead I took a vacation and have landed a nasty infection, a terribly sick toddler, resulting in a impatient momma. Sorry, that's my 5 a.m. WHINE. I usually don't have anything worth whining about but I think the lack of sleep has made me reach out for sympathy (while my husband is lying in bed sawing logs).

Good Morning and Good Day! I will try to follow up with something a little more enthusiastic later.

Yes my son is drinking the nasty community pool water. (which resulted in an eye infection,
cold, cough, fever and god knows what else?). That'll teach him. And for those of you wondering, no I did not drink the water, just made the mistake of entering it. (shutter).

Oh Happy Day!!

It happened, it really happened, we got an offer on our house. We actually got it last night but the broker emailed it twice w/out attaching so I had to go to sleep last night w/out knowing what it was. This morning we finally got the word! Full price offer and we pick up closing and inspection cost up to $2500. No problem!! I'm so excited to not have to worry about selling this house anymore that paying the extra fees was fine by me. I will breath a big sigh of relief after they have the inspection and hopefully have no additional stipulations for us. They are preapproved, ready to be moved and hopefully all of this is a good sign. Please cross your fingers :).

So that is my reason for a happy day. Which also makes you a little sad. Our first home; lived in for 2 1/2 years, where little man was born and has spent 19 months of his life, and lots of memories to hold onto. We will take lots of photo's and video before we leave. Depending on the time of month I'll probably shed a few tears.

Lastly, this happy day brings FEAR. Less than one month to get moved out and somehow moved in to our "not so ready to be moved into" house. What??? It will all work out. Even if we have to borrow and live in Karen & Ron's popup for a few weeks. We can make it work :)

Happy Friday to anyone that happens to actually check out my blog today. Have a wonderful weekend and stop by again soon! After little man wakes up from his nap we'll be heading out to the "fixer upper" for a fun filled weekend of installing windows, closing all gaps that would allow mice to enter and maybe some wiring. And camping, we will camp out all weekend and I can't wait. I even bought some marshmallows :)

Tah Tah for now. More when I return home.

Shout out to the April/May b'day peeps...

Well I should have done this sooner but I've been a little scattered lately. Here we go!

First off, happy birthday to my little sister Meagan who turned 21 on April 29th. Happy 21st poe. Sorry we couldn't be there for the big night.
Here are a few things about Pity (Meagan) that you should know.
-She sucked her thumb (and possibly still does :)
-She once had a "fake" stalker (heeheeeheeee... we'll never let you forget this poe)
-She LOVES the environment
-She loves movies and has a habit of quoting them ALL the time
-She is a klutz (sorry poe it's true) and once ran her bicycle into our pop up camper (no her vision was not at all impaired). She's also wrecked her bike in front of a campus bus (LOL)
-She is one of my bestest friends (along with my five other sisters)
-She is laid back
-and lastly, she is beautiful!
Happy belated 21st Meag!!




Happy 28th Keely! Keely's birthday was May 6th. She is another sister (just 2 years older)
Here a few things you should know about Keely!
-She can make the ugliest faces of anyone I know (don't worry she takes pride in it. She's very pretty, she can just make very strange faces)
-She married her high school sweetheart
-She lives in the Rocky Mountains
-She went to I.U. w/Nathan for two years. They were/still are hilarious together
-She has a great body
-She was an adorable child (Keel - remember our conversation :)
-She can make me laugh at the weirdest moments (and inappropriate ones)
-She does not know how to _____ (keel, remember the mall incident - I almost put it)
-She would kill me if I finished the previous sentence
-She used to make fake bruises with black and blue pens in front of the mirror in our bedroom when Lee would hit her.
-She's possibly a little dramatic (see previous sentence).
-She is a great sister and aunt
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEEL!!



Quentin is the oldest of us 11 kids. He turned 32 May 8th. Happy Birthday Q!!!
What to say about Quentin...
-He likes to hunt
-He likes to fart (alot)
-He has actually found a girlfriend that lets him do this (strange, I know).
-He drinks milk ALL the time
-He is an electrician
-He can sleep anywhere
-He is a tightwad (something we share in common). We prefer "frugal" but the rest of the world interprets it as tightwad.
-He likes to fart (did I already say that?). He must be the only man in his 30's that farts at the dinner table (Sorry Q, It's no secret).
-He's a wonderful big brother and has filled the role like no one else.
-He may move to Kansas one day and I'm crossing my fingers b/c we would only be 3 hours away from each other
-He has a very nice girlfriend (who's smart, patient and funny)
-He has a BIG heart.
Happy Birthday Q!!!!!



Matt's birthday is May 26th so I'm actually ahead! Happy Birthday Matt
As for Matt:
-He is my brother in law
-A great one!
-He is a people person
-He got me the worst shot on my 21st b'day but drank one with me (I'll never forget it Matt)
-He has a Harley
-He loves warm weather
-He has been a great older brother to Nathan
-He is dating 'sweet Melissa'.
-He doesn't like french fries (seriously)
-He loves mac n cheese (seriously)
-He is a lot of fun!!
Happy birthday Matt!!


Lastly (for April/May b'days) is Kelsey! My little sister will be 23 May 30th. Hope it's a great one Kels! And for you...
-Her nickname is Mojo (compliments of our dad)
-She is the shortest of us girls (and there is a battle b/w her and my mom on who is shorter than the other)
-She has my dad's witty sense of humor
-She is at Purdue (along w/Meagan)
-We lived together one semester and she was my favorite roommate in my college career
-We played lots of Mario and shared lots of laughs (mario/shots/cheesesticks - remember?)
-She is funny
-She likes to argue (she'll be going to law school)
-Her farts gross me out more than anyones (sorry Kels, I had to put it LOL)
-She is a great listener
-She has awesome hair
-And beautiful
Happy Birthday Kels




No, I didn't forget my sweet husband. I will make a special post for him :)

Latest "fixer upper" photo's.

I was downloading pics from our camera tonight and decided to post some recent pics of the house. We finally have it completely gutted (nevermind, just looked at pics and realized we still have laundry room ceiling left, yuck). This weekend we will be installing windows and then we'll have to finish up the wiring and we can finally drywall. Yeah!! We also have our house in Nixa listed on the MLS and hope to sell that quickly (cross your fingers everyone)!

Here is a pic of one of the fields


And another



Nathan gutted the wall on either side of the fireplace (we still need to raise that ceiling)


Our bedroom


A working toilet


Our living area


The TV room (like father, like son)


Our dirty son running through the house


And his dirty butt (it's impossible to keep him clean).

Officially "official"

Friday around 2 pm we got the call that our dossier was reviewed, accepted and we are "officially" waiting!! Expected wait time until referral is 7 months which would put us at December 11th. But I'm preparing myself for late December, early January and then travel sometime in Feb/March. Regardless, it feels so good to be officially waiting. June 15th until sometime in Sept CHSFS will not be giving out any referrals due to court closures in Ethiopia so I know until Sept/Oct it's going to seem like we are not moving forward at all. So, that's the scoop for now. Woohoo!!

I can hardly stand the wait!!

Our dossier should be arriving to Minnesota by 10:30a.m., May 10th, 2007. Little man and I got up at 7:00 and this morning could not be going any slower. I know, I know, we still have a long time. But to be "officially waiting" is a really big deal so I can't wait for a phone call!!! And of course I had asked Alexa to call my cell phone which is NOT working. I may have to bite the bullet and go to Sprint and buy a new phone (and then tape it to my forehead). I've been so distracted this week I've lost my cell phone twice. It's not easy being a scatter-brained, busy and distracted gal.

I did get all of my papers faxed in last night so we can get our house listed on the MLS. So this weekend the house needs thoroughly cleaned and I have to get this baby SOLD!

Hubbies parents should be getting into town in one week so that will be nice. We will have a babysitter!! Yeah :) We will be installing windows next weekend with the help of the MTA guys. And after that we get to drywall. Woohoo...

It's 9:30 pm and I just realized I never finished this post. The day went quickly, CHSFS never called, I could not get Sprint to successfully transfer phone service to another phone so I finally searched the house for my missing phone. Found it, switched service back to it and now have a cell. Went crazy a couple times and hubby wasn't here to keep me sane (I miss you honey). But Little man went to bed well although kicked around in there for a while. I have to give him credit, he knows he has to stay in there and doesn't put up much of a fight.

Tomorrow morn I think we will get up and drive to Texas to see Amber, Brian and the kids. Little man will have fun! Hubby won't be back until Tuesday so we need to get out.
Happy Thursday!

Almost there....

We are getting closer to "officially waiting". Yesterday Nathan and I met for lunch at the bank and had all of our dossier documents notarized and then last night I compiled all of it and made 2 copies (one for the agency and one for us). Whewww... I was tired.











Then today all I needed was to get 3 documents certified by the state (luckily there is a local office) and I could send it in the mail. Well, not so quick, I called the local office and they were closed for Truman Day. Whatttttt??? I was so crushed. But in the adoption world you get used to telling yourself that everything happens for a reason. So, today I neatly organized all the dossier documents and tomorrow we will swing by the Secretary of State office and overnight "the official dossier" to Minnesota. Yippeeeeee, almost there...

Catching up...

Another month has come and gone (again). I can't believe how fast April went. We left on April 4th for Flordia (more on that later), then to Indiana for a reception, and ended up their longer for Gpa's funeral. That was very sad but it was also a wonderful time because I was able to see all my siblings. That was fun!! So left on April 4th and didn't get back until late April 20th, finished up all my homestudy work and before I know it the 27th is here. Wow!

Florida was awesome! The campground was pretty much a parking lot jammed pack with RV's and pop ups but we had a great view of the Santa Rosa bay (I'm not sure that's what it was called). The weather was nice the first couple days and then it go very, very cold. I'm talking 30's at night (mind you, we were in a tent). But the best day was when we drove to Destin, FL to Henderson Beach State Park (where we will stay next time) and we took little man to the ocean. He loved it!! First we were up on the beach flying kites and letting little man play in the sand. Then hubby took him down to the water and the fun began. See pics.

Thankfully I'm a master packer and fit everything in the Subie


Our dandy little campsite


Our view from the site


Destin, Fl


Kite flying (which little man still talks about "dad, kite, fly"


Little man being onery





Little man checking out the girls with G'pa's binoculars


Little man's first swim in the ocean (and loving it)




Air Force Museum where little man said "Pane, Airpane" about 1000 times


Thanks G'ma and G'pa for spoiling me. I loved the ocean!! Love, little man

Where does the time go?

Well it's 11:15 a.m. (been up since 6:40) and all I've accomplished is breakfast and dishes from last night. Some days are much more productive than others. Right now I'm catching up on adoption stuff and watching little man take all the contents of my wallet out and is now shoving them under the couch cushions. At least he is entertaining himself and is happy! It is so funny watching how seriously he is taking all of it and his intense concentration.

Amber, Emily and the kids passed through last night on their way to Texas. They showed up a little before 10 pm and we let the kids run around and burn some energy. Being the "cool" parents that we are we allowed little man to get up and play with his cousins. At first he was cranky for being woken up but then he was running around, playing swords and crawling on the floor laughing with them. We had little man back to bed and the kids settled for a movie by midnight. When I went to bed at 2:30 Cadyn was still roaming around. Apparently spending the day in the car had not stimulated him enough so he was wide awake. Then back up at 6 this morning. CRAZY. That kid has an insane amount of energy. I only wish I had some of it. Anyway, we visited this morning and they were off by 8:30. Little man and I watched PBS and I cleaned the kitchen. Since then, not much of anything. Ready to tackle lunch and get little man down for a nap.

It's absolutely beautiful outside today. I was going to load little man and the car and head out to the house and mow but I'm afraid on 4 hours of sleep I'd be dead tired and regret leaving the second I pulled out of the driveway. So I'll push, push and push away tomorrow mowing the lawn. It took me 6 hours last time to most of it so maybe I'll break it into 2 days.

Little man is 18 months today! I can't believe how quick it has gone by. He was eating his lunch today, then spitting it out and laughing so hard. It really was hilarious watching him. He's some pics of my guy.



Have a happy weekend everyone. I hope Lee's new job is going well, Samuel's interviewing is successful and Keel & Brian's inspection Monday is good. More news later,
Chatter

One step closer!

Well after JUST entering the last post I figured I'd better do a follow up with something a little more up beat!! So I will talk about the fact that we are one step closer to bringing home our next little one :). I faxed over the homestudy to CHSFS today. It will be reviewed and if all looks well we can finish up our dossier and send it in to our agency. Once they receive it we will "officially" be waiting. I'm so excited for that day!

The house is slowly coming along. Right now it's just studs but hopefully in the next 4-6 weeks we will start drywalling. We are installing windows the weekend of the 19th (May) with the help of the MTA guys again. Jeanne and Tom will also be showing up that weekend. A big Thank You to them! It will be nice to have the extra hands. Maybe we can pick up the pace a little come the month of May and June. Here are some recent photo's from the house and property. It's so peaceful out there. I can't wait until it's officially our home!

It's just one of those days...

Since I started researching adoption (nearly one year ago) there are certain days that I feel emotionally overwhelmed and to say I feel "sad" is an understatement. Today was one of those days. It started as a happy day because we faxed in our homestudy to CHSFS and once that is approved we can send in our dossier and "officially" start the wait. However, sending in my homestudy has me wondering if we are making the right decision on age, choosing the right country, should we have requested siblings...??? I think about all of the countries in the world with children in need and it makes me so sad. Should we adopt older? What about those waiting? But I know with an 18 month old and only being 26 adopting an older child probably isn't the way to go right now. Maybe in the future...

But back to the day, then I watched American Idol tonight because the episode was geared towards "Giving It Back" and they were raising money all night for charities in the US and Africa. Well they showed footage of Africa and it just broke my heart. It's so sad that people have to die, every second, of every minute to AIDS. Or that a 12 year old boy and his 7 year old sister have to live by themselves because their parents died. Or that children even younger that that are orphaned every single day and living on the streets. What about in America? They did a segment on a family in Kentucky and the mother can't even read. It just breaks your heart. And days like today I can hardly handle...

With that I will try harder to become more frugal, give back to others, educate people around me and most importantly be a better person and mother. I read a blog tonight from a young lady that is a senior in high school with seven siblings. Me trying explain it would not do it justice. You can check out her blog at http://afamilyoften.blogspot.com . I hope I can raise my kids to have such compassion for each other and the world.

Sorry to be a downer tonight. Normally I keep these days to myself but I thought I'd share tonight. I'm going to try to write more frequently because it feels good to get my feelings out.

With that I had a WONDERFUL time seeing my family back in Indiana. I can't believe how much closer we all have gotten as we've gotten older. Not that we weren't close before it's just that the intimacy is changing. Thanks to all my siblings for being such a LARGE part of my life. I wouldn't be me without YOU!

And of course to my wonderful husband, who has a way of making the aches and pains more bearable and for walking down the path of life with me, specifically parenthood. You are such a wonderful father and husband. It's been amazing watching you with little man and I can't wait to see you with the next. I know, life with you, only gets better! I love you!!! thanks for all you do for us.