How Quickly They Turn

During Nicholas’ swimming lessons, there is an open swim time for adults. Usually these are senior adults and I’ve always liked them. But, lately, I don’t know what to think of them. Let me explain. Since Nicholas started lessons in September, several of the older ladies have encouraged the kids and cheered for them as they learned to swim. I always thought it was sweet. Then, came the diving board. They watched as each kid overcame their fear and jumped – except for Nicholas. Apparently, their patience and faith in Nicholas has been lost.

I was shocked this past week to hear one woman yell out, “Get off the board and let the girls jump.” I heard another one mutter, “He’s not going to jump.” What happened to these nice people? Nicholas starts another month of swimming lessons on Tuesday. If he doesn’t jump, will they run him out of the pool? ;)

It is frustrating to watch him stand up there and not even try and jump. Last week he freaked out and screamed bloody murder. The lifeguard had to help him off the board. But, I give him credit for getting back up there again on Tuesday. It is funny how we can see someone else’s fear and lose our patience and understanding, but yet have our own fears that can trip us up. Hopefully, next month he has a breakthrough on the diving board. If not, I admire him for getting back on the board each lesson.

Another attempt

In other news, I unloaded my camera again. I have some pictures of Nicholas and me making that unsuccessful batch of muffins. I should of known how dense they would be. Nicholas looks like he is in pain stirring the batter.

Putting some muscle into it

Even more muscle

We also found out that our rec center has an open gym for preschoolers three mornings a week. We checked it out earlier this week. I told Evan that it would be a greater father-son bonding time on his day off. Either that or I need a good book to read. They set up bleachers for the parents so the kids can just run free.

We have a little over a week before we have our meeting with this potential birthmother. I’m not nervous yet. I’m hoping to find time this weekend to sit down with Evan and make a list of questions. I’m not really talking about anything regarding her situation. I really want to get to know her as a person. If she does choose us, I want to know her interests and her gifts and talents. Years ago I never would have wanted to meet a birthmother because it is so much easier to pretend there isn’t one – just a child. Now I wish I knew more about Nicholas’ birthmother. This process has been difficult in its own way, but at the same time, I think it has helped us grow and stretch in positive ways. Pleas continue to pray for our meeting and wisdom for the birth mother. Thank you!

Scheduled

Our appointment with the birth mother has officially been made. It isn’t for a couple more weeks, but it feels good to have it actually down on the calendar. We still are trying not to get too excited yet. There is another couple also meeting with her that day. It is hard to want to pray that we are chosen when that means another family would not be. We’re praying for God’s will, so if it is not us, we will be disappointed, but know there is another child for us.


It is hard to prepare for this kind of meeting. Both parties are really nervous. While the birth mother gets to choose, she still wants to make a good impression on the adoptive parents. The woman I talked to from our agency told me to think of it as a blind date. Hopefully, we’ll be able to laugh some and put each other at ease even though she has a difficult decision ahead of her.

This news did brighten up my day though because I was having a doozy of a morning. Nicholas woke us up at 4:30 this morning wondering why the hall light was off. This is a rare occurrence, but thankfully he went right back to sleep. Too bad I couldn’t fully fall back to sleep since I knew Evan’s alarm was going off in about an hour. I also stepped in cat poop this morning. I don’t want to get too graphic, but sometimes one of the cats doesn’t make sure she’s clean before she leaves the litter box. So, that was fun.

Then, I made two recipes that turned out less than stellar. One I know I did everything right, but something was very wrong and they ended up in the trash. I’ve made it a couple times before and they always came out successfully. I had promised Nicholas that we would bake muffins this morning too. I thought I had more almond flour than I did so I had to improvise (this almond flour was purchased 30-40 minutes away, so I couldn’t run out and get more). This made the muffins so dense. Nicholas thinks they taste good, but I think they’re only good as a laxative (I see a theme in this post).

Finally, my darling son had markers and a coloring book in his room (which I was unaware of). Of course, the marker made its way onto his comforter. Thankfully, they were washable. The lesson was learned, but I was spent. All of this happened before lunch. So, this call from our agency was very welcomed.

Our Ordinary Hero contest ends Sunday night at 11:59 (CST). If we are one of the top three sellers we will win $500, in addition to 40% we receive for each sale. I want to be able to have our second goal – Birthmother expenses – done soon. Will you consider helping us? They added some new things this time and several are new as of today, such as:

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Women-s-Apparel/Charcoal-Burnout-Hoodie-p215.html

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Mens-Women-s-Unisex-Apparel/Gray-Pullover-Hoodie-p223.html

 

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Kids-Youth/Kid-s-Royal-Blue-Zip-Hoodie-p226.html



 

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Kids-Youth/Kid-s-Black-Long-Sleeve-I-m-Gonna-Tee-p219.html

 
   

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Accessories/OH-Black-Baseball-Cap-p228.html

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Accessories/OH-Military-Hat-p227.html

Thank you to those that have already contributed! 

Well, keep us in your prayers as we prepare these next couple of weeks.  I think the biggest prayer is that we would be ourselves!  I'm sure the meeting will be here before we know it.

Unloading My Camera

I haven’t taken too many pictures in the last couple of weeks, but I finally loaded the ones I did take onto my computer. It reminded me of some of the things we’ve done in the last couple of weeks.

Nicholas is over halfway done with this month’s swimming lessons. Last Thursday, he was the only one that showed up, so he had a private lesson. It was nice because his teacher pushed him to move past some of his fears. She knows what he is capable of, but it is hard when she has more than one child to teach. I don’t know that it was Nicholas’ favorite lesson, but it was mine.

They didn’t jump off the diving board that day, but here are a few pictures from an earlier lesson. He’s still not ready to jump on his own, but he keeps getting up there.

Nicholas was invited to his first non-family member birthday party. It was at a local bounce house. Nicholas loved jumping around for the first thirty minutes. Then, he and most of the boys at the party found the arcade. It didn’t matter that they had no money, they had fun anyway.

Since Nicholas helps in our Sunday School class, he is “friends” with our youth pastor’s 2 ½ year old daughter. She is the youngest of four, including 2 brothers, so she can stand up for herself. But, this past Sunday, it was Nicholas who was telling her how it is.

Nicholas was trying to pray and every time he spoke, she chimed in, “I want to pray.” Nicholas kept trying, but finally had enough. He looked at her and said, “You are annoying me. I keep trying to pray! And you keep saying, ‘I wanna pray. I wanna pray.’ You are annoying me!”

Evan and I had to hold in our laughter. Up until about a week ago, he wanted to marry her.

I’m feeling good right now. I am about finished with our Children’s Ministry newsletter. Our week looks pretty typical as of right now. We’re still fundraising, if anyone is interested. I’ll also update when we find out when our birthmother meeting will be. Now to enjoy time with my family . . .

Grant Me One Request . . .

Ordinary Hero is having another grant contest. It runs from today (1/13) and ends on Sunday, January 22nd at midnight (CST). The top three sellers will each win a $500 grant. Do not forget to choose my name in the affiliate drop-down box at checkout. They’ve added some new products for this contest. These would make good Valentine’s Day presents.

Since we are meeting with a birthmother very soon and could be matched with her, it is even more important that we have the money for our fees. Within 3 ½ months, we could owe a significant amount of the money if the match does occur.

I want to highlight some of the items that I like:

Nicholas has one of these shirts.  They're great for boys that want to be superheroes!http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Kids-Youth/Boys-Superhero-Tee-p146.html



I own a key fob, but not from OH.  But, they are great to have,
especially if you hate rummaging through your purse to find your keys.  You can get one for only $10!
http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/On-The-GO/Key-Fob-Keychains-c40/



Evan got one of these tumblers for Christmas.  He loves making his coffee and taking it on the go.
http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/On-The-GO/Stainless-Travel-Tumbler-p152.html

I love my shirt!  I wear it once a week because it is so comfortable! 
http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Mens-Women-s-Unisex-Apparel/I-m-Gonna-Change-The-World-Adult-p28.html

Evan has said numerous times how comfortable his shirt is too.  You can now get it in white or mocha.  They also have this design in a red pullover hoodie and a gray pullover hoodie.
http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Mens-Women-s-Unisex-Apparel-c10/

Check out these favorites and other new products.  Don't forget about their donation packages too.


Please consider helping us out. In addition to receiving 40% of each purchase for our adoption expenses, we would love to win one of those $500 grants!  Thank you!

Wednesdays

Today is my first Wednesday morning of being completely alone. My mom is taking Nicholas to Bible study on Wednesday mornings like we have done in past years. I am staying home so I can do things around the house or run errands – alone. I love Nicholas’ company, but our times apart have been few and far between lately. This time apart will be good for both of us. At least, I think so.

Evan is on his second week of his new schedule, and so far, I think we’re going to like it. He worked a lot of overtime last week, but still was able to spend time with Nicholas each night. Last night he got home in time to make our Children’s Ministry Meeting, which is a rarity. He also seems a little less tired. He may have to work five days in a row, but the days go much quicker for him now.

“Battle Commercial Van” seems like it will be a losing one for us. The meeting is in a week and a half, but we got a letter from our association’s management company saying that we could come to the meeting, but we pretty much have no chance in winning this one (my translation of it). Nice, right? Thanks for trying to work with us. We’re onto a new strategy. I talked about praying for God to do big things this year. Well, we are hoping to move in the next year. With the market like it is, it doesn’t seem like it will happen, which is why we are doing a lot of praying. It’s time to get this house ready and make the improvements we want to make, so we can get on out of here.

We are waiting to hear when our meeting will be with the birth mother. I’m not sure if we’ll hear for another week or two. She hasn’t changed her mind, but there will be some transition in her life in the coming days.

I have had a busy week so far. I have to prepare because we teach on Sunday; I have the Children’s Ministry Newsletter to complete; Nicholas’ homeschool curriculum is finally getting a little challenging (this is a good thing); We have two violin lessons this week due to some scheduling conflicts; and Nicholas is in the middle of another round of swimming lessons. It is good busy though.

Well, time to get things done . . .

Note: I actually took a break before publishing this post. I managed to get a lot of my newsletter done and go to the store. :) I think I’m really going to like Wednesdays!

Count It All Joy

This last week has been anything but boring. Last Thursday, we found out that Evan’s van isn’t allowed on our neighborhood’s property. We, unfortunately, were not aware of the rule, especially since he had his van from his last company on the property for five years. If you believe the hearsay (let’s call it what it is – gossip) from some of our neighbors, we have a troublemaker or two in our neighborhood that like to go around inspecting everyone’s property and reporting all violations to the management company. Good times. It is easy to want to retaliate and find all of their violations and report them, but that’s not what God calls us to do. Believe me, Evan and I had our venting time within the confines of our house. But, after much prayer and thought, we’re taking the high road.

We’ve asked for the Board to make some amendments to the rule as it is for Evan’s employment. In the meantime, Evan is going to talk to his boss about bringing his van back to work instead of taking it home each night. This was something new they offered as of last month. We were excited that it would save us so much in gas, especially since Evan was going back to a five-day schedule. But, I’d rather do what is right and trust that God will take care of the details. If we can’t have the van here, it is a big inconvenience, but there are worse things that could happen. We’re just praying that the Board would be more understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, their next meeting isn’t for a couple more weeks.

Monday was supposed to be Evan’s day off, but his boss called and asked if he could come in as they were majorly short-handed. We didn’t have anything planned and he wouldn’t be working too late, so he helped. These hours were all considered overtime, which makes it a little easier to handle. Who knew that those hard-earned dollars would be spent before Evan even returned home that evening.

I love Gabby. I love both of my cats, but she is the one that loves me back the most! She follows me around during my morning routine. She always comes and sits on my lap if I am telling any story where there is passion in my voice. She’s a very sweet cat. But, she’s got problems. She’s built like an ox and in the last year is more prone to urinary tract infections.

She was fine all that day, but all of a sudden I noticed her going down to the litter box several times. I shook my head knowingly. I called Evan to see when he would be home, but it would not be for another hour or so. I winced at the thought. I proactively called the vet and made her an appointment. Then, the fun began. Gabby is the hardest person to put into the cat carrier. Like I said, she’s built like an ox. She is super-strong when she wants to be, which means I cannot push her into the box without a serious fight. Also, because of her UTI, she was having a bit of a dribble problem, to put it nicely. Add in a “helpful” four year old and it’s enough to drive someone crazy.

But, I did it, and less than forty minutes later, we were home with two prescriptions, an expensive bag of UTI pet food, and a larger-than-I-wanted-but-better-than-I-thought bill. Now, for the next week, I have to try and give the ox two pills each day. You should have seen how much growling was happening yesterday and she wasn’t too happy either.

I’m thankful though that I caught it early. I’m thankful that we have the money for these emergencies. I’m thankful that we have a car for Evan to drive, and that I don’t have to give him mine or drive him back and forth each day.

Nicholas and I are trying to get used to having Evan gone on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We’re looking forward to seeing how early he gets off of work. I was looking at some upcoming activities and was thrilled to see that Evan should be able to come with us. This is one of the reasons we wanted this shift. His shift officially ends at 4:00, but we expect an hour to two hours of overtime each night. That’s still early compared to getting home between 7:30 and 10:00 each night.

So, while some less-than-ideal things have happened this week. I’m choosing joy. This isn’t easy for me, but I find that choosing joy is so much more refreshing than choosing worry. I’m proud of myself for letting some of these things go. I’m only hoping I can remember this when the next situation arises. It is my lifelong battle, but I’m thankful for these victories.

Happy New Year!

2011 was a pretty good year. It wasn’t without its difficulties, but it has been very easy to look back and see many of our blessings.


Nicholas started swimming lessons at the beginning of the year. He would barely go underwater. Now, with several more months of lessons under his belt, he is in the Advanced Preschool class. We took him to the rec earlier this week and he swam from the rope to the wall on his own. He starts another round of lessons on Tuesday.

In February, our home study was officially approved for our second adoption. We also began to fundraise. We are looking forward to finding out when we will meet a potential birth mother next month after a long wait!

In March, Nicholas turned four! I can’t believe I’ll be writing that he’s five in less than 2 ½ months! He’s grown and changed so much this year. Last year he started to assert his independence. This year I’ve noticed he has so much more. He is in charge of opening the garage door, putting his own dishes away, and folding wash clothes.

This past spring, Nicholas also had his first trip to Urgicare after shoving a small H*t Wheel car wheel up his nose. Thank goodness for insurance because that bill would have been a very expensive extraction – as much as when Evan sprained his ankle badly, which also happened that month. He now limits his sports participation at youth group.

June was a busy month. Evan’s schedule changed to four ten-hour days. We had to get used to having him home in the middle of the week and no longer eating breakfast together the rest of the week. Come Wednesday, it will change again to five eight-hour days again. We did have a fun time with Evan’s company at Ced*r Point. Nicholas enjoyed the kiddie rides, but didn’t even want Evan to ride some of the scarier roller coaster rides.

Nicholas went to his first wedding (reception) this summer. He was very well-behaved. However, all that talking he did about wanting to dance didn’t really come into fruition. He quickly lost steam and we left around 9:00 that evening.

Nicholas also started Pre-Kindergarten this year. He quickly surprised me when his reading and spelling took off. It brings me great joy to see him sit down with a book to “read”. However, he is currently banned from reading during rest time. One curious (or bored) moment in his room led to the death of a couple of books.

The highlight of the year was when Nicholas asked Jesus to come into his heart. He continues to ask me thought-provoking questions and likes to learn his Bible verses. He did have communion for the first time at church this morning. It didn’t turn out to be the “snack” that he thought it was. After taking the bread, he said, “Yuck!” It took everything in us (me, Evan, my sister, and my parents) not to burst into laughter. At least, he won’t take it for the wrong reasons.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the perfect way this year - by going to bed before midnight. In fact, Nicholas went to bed at his normal time. Since we had church today, as well as teaching our class, we didn’t want to be overtired for our long morning.

I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions. I do know that I want to be more focused on my relationship with Christ. It seems like whenever we are in the middle of an adoption process, that Satan wants to do everything he can to discourage us. My biggest battle in my life is my own mind. The Bible tells us to take every thought captive, but too often I let a lot of lies and worries slip through and it wreaks havoc on my never-stopping thought life. It often goes from just being mental to a physical problem when I wear myself down with the stress. I’m not really stressing about the adoption though. Often it is the other little things in life that I can’t get off my mind. So, that is my goal for this year. I want to spend more time meditating on God’s truths, so that I can spend less time in worry.

We had a very good sermon this morning at church – it was about expecting the supernatural from God, which really ties into my worrying problem. It really spoke to me, as I often believe God can do great things, but usually think He can for other people, but not for me. We have some areas in our lives where we are excited to see God work. Some of these areas have puzzled my overly-logic mind. But, thankfully, nothing is too difficult for God. Neither Evan nor I want to live mundane lives. We want to do the things God calls us to do and obey Him.

I hope all of my readers have a Happy New Year! I pray that you too can believe God for the supernatural in 2012.