Finally....a Porch Floor!

We got an update from Mary, our caseworker yesterday. I tried to post this post yesterday, but didn't get around to it! So...here it is......makes my cry!

"Big S & Little S got their letters. Big S said to tell his brother that he does like to read, and he can't wait to play with him. He said to tell mom and dad that he can't wait for them to come to Ethiopia and that he loves them. Little S loved her letter. She was upset about something when I came to visit with them and as soon as she saw the letter and picture she smiled and kept telling me to look at the picture. Big S explain to her again who everyone was in the picture. They are both very excited about their new family."

The other great, exciting news is that they poured the cement in the floor of our porch yesterday morning! Looks like we are a "go" to raise the porch roof on Saturday. We weren't quite sure if we were going to be able to get the columns in on time, but they are being delivered on Friday! The siding is progressing too......

We continue to be WAY overbudget....stressing a lot about that......

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!! WHOEEEEEEE

I got the call a few minutes before I had to run out the door and pick up Squeeker from school...our court date is: May 21st!!!! I am so excited, and honestly, a little shocked! I was expected a court date sometime in June...so this is good....really good!!!

Guess I need to pick out a paint color now. I have the swatches lying on the quilt in the girls' room.....just need to decide what color......lavender or green?????? Any thoughts?

What Happens When You Leave a 2 Year Old with Daddy

Did you know that men have an aversion towards diapers? Ok, most of you that are reading this blog are probably women, so I know you are all shaking your heads in agreement.

Every other Friday evening I have to make the trek in Charlotte to drop of Squeeker with his father, my ex-husband. Most of the times, the trip is annoying long, fighting Friday night traffic on the way home. Last night was no exception, except there was an accident near the Lake exit which backed the traffic up for miles going and coming. Last night, I planned a little excursion to the mall after I dropped him off. Some much needed alone time to look for a new pair of casual black shoes since I literally wore my other ones out! Normally, I would have enjoyed that time tremendously.....but last night, believe it or not, I could not find a pair of shoes to buy! As I looked around the new styles in the mall, I felt oddly out of touch with fashion and very much in touch to life as a mom with young children. My greatest fear to to be frumpy, like my own mom was (God rest her soul). Could that possibly be happening to me??????

Anyway, I picked up a few essentials while I was there and headed home. My dear, dear sweet husband, I am now completely convinced, does have an aversion towards changing diapers. Since it's been raining here a lot for the past few weeks, we haven't had a chance to do yard clean up from the construction going on. Instead of making dinner, he decides to have Pickles help him outside in the yard. Hey, I do that too when I need to get some gardening done in my flower garden. What do you think happened when Pickles announces: "Daddy, I have to go potty?" Yep, you guessed it. My husband has been in the Boy Scouts for 40+ years and no, they didn't go inside to go potty......he sat her on the new retaining wall...and let her pee. If I wasn't so disgusted at the thought, I'd be laughing my tushie off! Here's the now famous wall:

Update on the House:

Before picture with partial siding up... The bathroom window had already been moved, but they hadn't raise the roof to the shed yet.

The progress on the house has been painstakenly slow. The drawback of buying an older house is wear and tear of 60+ years. The roof was new when we bought the house, but whomever did it had no idea what they were doing. We had leaks at the roof seams until David patched it will tar. All of the flashing was installed wrong, so a large part of the garage roof and it's rafters were rotted. We had another section with a rotted rafter above the den. We had to move the bathroom window up 8 inches and over 12 to allow adequate room for the flashing, which allowed us to raise the roof of the the shed, aka "Sugar Shack." Now they are working on the sunroom......

Not quite done with the back, but WOW....what a difference!

14 Weeks and Waiting....

Today marks the 14th week of waiting for a court date. Honestly, I don't know what else to say. I'm discouraged, disgusted, frustrated, and depressed.

But we did have fun today at Jetton Park with a SAHM group, our our ever so faithful friend, April. Thanks for the fun day!!!!

Where Have I Been the Last Week???

The Beautiful Cooper River Bridge































A house on the Battery. The porch is called a Piazza in Charleston.....















































Ok, I have to admit, I kind of went into hiding, but not intentionally. David and I took Pickles to Charleston, SC for her birthday weekend. If you remember from her last post, she was running a pretty high fever the morning we were suppose to leave. I was able to get the fever under control, so David said: "let's go.......nothing a little motrin and tylenol won't take care of." And for the most part, he was right......until the ride home when she got reallllllllllllllly sick. After a trip to the pediatrician on Monday morning, we discovered not only did she have the flu, but she had bronchitis too (the deep cough started early Monday morning). And if this wasn't bad enough, I ended up at my doctor's on Tuesday diagnosed with a sinus infection and Pickles ended up with the stomach virus on top of everything else. Last week was one of those weeks you wish you could just erase from the calendar.

So, let me tell you about our trip to Charleston. We decided to be adventurous and leave the pack and play at home. Why not, we thought, she's TWO!!!!!! She's almost ready to come out of the crib into a big girl bed, let's give it a try...how bad could it be??? Let's just say we won't try that again. Honestly, I think a lot of the 'middle of the night' crying was more related to not feeling good than anything else. By Saturday night, we moved the mattress of the sofa bed on the floor and she slept through most of the night....but the damage had been done to this set of "OLD" parents....and we were pretty worn out!

But the weather was perfect......high 60s on Saturday, low 80s on Sunday. We went to SC Aquarium at the Charleston harbor, the Ft. Sumpter museum (pretty cool stuff for those Civil War buffs), walked the Battery, had a nice dinner overlooking the Atlantic ocean, and finally, on Sunday, took a historic carriage ride around Charleston. Oh my.....I have fallen in love with Charleston. The old homes, the history......it was just beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Newport, RI.

The rest of the last week was spent nursing a very sick little girl and just getting through it.

We also got this precious update from Mary,,,our fabulously wonderful casework at Gladney:

"Big S & Little S received your packages the other day. They were so excited to get them. They both loved the crayons and coloring books. Big S is so patient with Little S. He had been coloring carefully in his coloring book when Little S suddenly wanted it. He gave it to her,letting her color all over his carefully colored page, while he happily colored in another coloring book. Big S wants to know when you come if he can send gifts to his friends when he gets home with you. Little S was very generous with her gift and went and tried to share a crayon with one of the older girls. The older girl wouldn't take the crayon and Little S was a little disappointed. Big S and Little S are both doing well."

I've also started cleaning out the girl's room getting it ready to move Pickles into a big girl bed. I'm almost finished, but have to clean out a closet before I can put away all the toys I organized and sorted in plastic tubs. I did put their new quilt on the girls' bed, ordered sheers for the windows and have started trying to pick out a color to paint their room. So we are making progress in getting ready for Big and Little S to come home.....

I also wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to a dear friend at church: Mitzi. Mitzi.....your words today meant more to me than I can ever express. Thank you for understanding how I feel and for your kind, kind words. You truly were the angel I needed today!

Delays....Delays....Delays....UPDATED.....

I wasn't going to post today...or tomorrow.....or the next day until we got a court date. But I must confess, after reading the Fournet's blog and Becca's blog this morning, I was convicted to document our journey through this second adoption......even the moments where the struggle is the most intense, and the emotions are crashing like a tsunami wave.

For the record...I just want everyone to know that I just adore Becca and her courage to be real.....Becca...you are my hero! I'm still afraid of what people will think...or what they'll think, or worse...that they will judge me for being real. So Becca....this one's for you! Thank you for your inspiration!

And to dear Natalie.......Natalie.....my heart is breaking for you as mine is breaking for my own children still waiting. I know your wait is longer...and has been more agonizing...but I do feel your anquish......and I understand...truly understand your pain.

Mary called yesterday afternoon with some relatively good news. But to me....I could only see an additional two to three weeks delay in obtaining a court date. I need that court date...I need sometime tangible to hold on to......I need a date to post on the calendar to work towards. And yesterday.....when I knew it would be another few weeks before I would have that date,,,,I lost it...and sobbed on the phone to Mary. I've been holding it in for weeks, and yesterday was just more than I could bear.....so I sobbed.....and sobbed....and sobbed.

And today, I'm moving on. Today is my sweet Drama Girl, aka Pickle's 2nd birthday. Today, she'll have cute little cupcakes....today we sang her Happy Birthday and are telling EVERYONE it's her birthday!! Today.....is her day! In the car this morning, she sang her own version of Jesus Loves Me...it went like this:

Mommy loves me, this I know....for the Bible tells me so.

Squeeker loves me, this I know....for the bible tells me so.

Repeat....repeat....repeat....repeat....repeat....

My heart melted.....and just a tiny bit of my heart healed this morning.

Tonight, my sweet husband, Pickles and I are heading out for a short birthday-bash weekend in Charleston, SC. Thank goodness for Hilton points and 80 degree weather coming our way!

But before that, I am treating myself to a much needed massage to help relax my muscles and my nerves.

For today......there is a glimmer of hope....I'm coming out of the darkness and can see a sliver of light at the end of tunnel.....God promises us in Psalms 23......."Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." These last few weeks there has only been one set of Footprints, because God has been carrying me.

Update:

A mere five minutes of breathing lavender.....a mere five minutes of hot packs relaxing the tense muscles in my back......a mere five minutes of tranquility. I'm starting to relax....I'm starting to breath.........A knock on the door...there is an emergency......Pickles is running a fever of 103.7 and David is in the middle of running a big load of moulding through the moulder. My head crashes against the head rest in defeat......are there breaks for me in this life lately????? Honestly, I cannot take much more. Around ever corner, Satan seems to be lurking....trying to break me...but he can't win......he cannot win. I am a child of God and he will not win.

Beautiful....Beautiful......Beautiful.....SNOW!!!!!!!

Oh my...it is absolutely beautiful out! Who would have thought a major snow storm would hit North Carolina in March?????


Squeeker's comments spoken just moments ago: "Mommy....this is such a God moment!"


Here's a peak......more pics to come later of the kids in the snow!















Squeeker making a snow angel.

I love this one.....we finally were able to get Pickles, aka, DRAMA GIRL, on the sled. She does not like the snow. Her exact quote: "Snow bit me." Well.....if she would keep her mittens on it might not be so bad!!!

The beginning of the meltdown........