Waiting and Working

I got word from the adoption agency yesterday that we are going to be waiting until next week (at best) to find out the information we are so anxious to hear. It is concerning a referral, so we are obviously excited beyond words. If you know anything about Ethiopian adoption, it is very early in the process for us to even have any hope of a referral, but that it due to the special need that we are willing to take. Hopefully, we'll know some details that we can share next week. (The bad news about Ethiopia is that I'm not allowed to put any pictures our our future child online until we have been to Ethiopia for court and the child it legally ours.)

While we wait for information, I am trying to play catch up around the house and cram in as much learning as possible. 

Another thing that is requiring some time and energy is our new pup, Kylie. She is as sweet as can be and great with the kids, but she has never quit running away the second the opportunity presents itself. JD and I spent several hours Saturday trying to install an invisible fence for her, but there are too many dead spots in our yard due to the cement basement walls and the huge mounds of dirt that are in the side yard. We finally gave up and are going to have to put in an underground wire version this spring. One more thing on the spring to-do list!


The second issue with her is that she decided after being spayed that she isn't house broken anymore. We have ruled out an infection issue and the vet says it's just behavioral. She will not go in Alyssa's room but feels free to use the rest of the house. This means she is either directly being held or is in her puppy play-pen in the kitchen. It's been really frustrating and I'm not sure what else to try to break her. 

Have a blessed Wednesday. 

Short Documentary

If you have about 13 minutes, watch this short documentary about children living with HIV. We met the little cutie at the beginning of the video at the Orphan Summit last November. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jYpgKM__yg

Weekend

I haven't blogged all weekend, but neither have I done any laundry, any cleaning or any shopping. Other than throwing some spinach in the juicer, I have done mounds of adoption paper work! I am serious - mounds and mounds! Last Thursday, I had not started our dossier (the huge pile of paperwork for Ethiopia) and was preparing to get the I600 (Homeland security paperwork) in the mail, when I made a quick call to the adoption agency with a question. What the lady told me on the phone put us in to SUPER rush mode! I hope to be able to share more details this week!! In a little over 72 hours, we have Fed Ex'ed our I600 and scanned and emailed the great majority of the dossier to the adoption agency. We have one more training session online that wouldn't allow me to register over the weekend and one more book to finish. We are also waiting for several notarized letters from things like life insurance policies and original birth and marriage certificates to come in the mail. Other than that, we have pumped out the paperwork. 


In between the paperwork, we've discussed names - that's always fun even though I don't think I'm going to get to use the girl name I really want. I'm just too outnumbered (even Elijah has sided with everyone else.) It's OK, I always keep a few names in reserve.

Guess Who's Going To Africa

Gabriel and Alei each got a turn traveling to Liberia when we adopted in 2006 and 2007; this year is Alyssa's turn! Although Moriah is older, she has no interest in making the trip, so Alyssa has the awesome opportunity to accompany us on one of the trips this year. JD and I both have to make the first trip for court; we are not both required to go on the second trip. We may both go  or may not, based on child care arrangements at home and finances. We have decided that Alyssa will be going on whatever trip provides the most travel and experience opportunities; this means JD may make the second trip alone. (Hope not, I want to go both!) Alyssa has asked to go to Africa since she was a little girl, so we are very excited to take her!


(I can't say much yet, but we are possibly on the brink of exciting news on the adoption front....stay tuned.)

Long Term Change

 This is day six of our 15 day juice program; today we are adding back in nuts and beans. It hasn't been too tough since we have eaten all the fruits and vegetables that we have wanted. I can't even begin to guess how many servings I've eaten a day. While we were intending to continue juicing all three meals, we are cutting back to once a day and just eating the other two meals of fruit and vegetables due to the cost and waste. (I wish Vitamix shipped their products faster, but they told me it wouldn't be here for several more days.)


I made a soup last night with the tomato base I canned back in the summer - we added onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, broccoli and red pepper. It was delicious and we all agreed that we would have enjoyed it even before juicing. 

I broke down and made the kids bread yesterday; the smell of it cooking is a bit tempting. I also made Moriah a gluten-free flat bread that she actually liked. We haven't found many gluten free bread products that actually taste good. 

My kids eat too much junk food, as evidenced by Tori's do-nut and hot chocolate. They are going to be blessed with a green (veggie) smoothie a day in the very near future. As others know, it's very expensive to feed a large family healthy.

This past week has really made us reflect on what changes we need to make for our family long term; we are going to push to try and make the majority of our diet plant based, rather than animal based. 

Juicing

 JD, Alei and I are on day three of six eating only fruits and vegetables. We are juicing fruit at breakfast, juicing vegetables (and apples) at lunch and dinner and are eating tons of fruits and vegetables in between. Day seven through 15 we are going to add in nuts and beans - we are pretty excited about that! (Day 16, JD is eating steak on the grill and I am eating chicken on the grill....and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, but we won't focus on that!) 


It's going well overall. The first negative is that I still have to cook and feed the kids real food; the second negative is how expensive good fruit and vegetables cost. I bought a juicer, but am totally unhappy with how much it wastes. We are upgrading to a Vitamix that will grind the whole fruit with no waste. 

A perk of all these fruits and veggies is that Julia and Elijah are able to play help wash them. They tend to wash themselves and the floor also but they enjoy it. 

I'm doing this because my chiropractor convinced me that it would help with inflammation in my neck, but I'm sure hoping for some lost pounds as well.

Birthday Bowl

To celebrate Tori's 7th birthday, we took the crew birthday bowling. 

It is relatively affordable on the Navy base and the kids have been wanting to go for at least a year. It was way easier than I anticipated; everyone got the game and took their turn (even Elijah). It was really fun for everyone. 

Once we came home, Aunt Deb joined us for pizza and birthday dirt cake. 

Happy Birthday Tori; it's hard to believe you are seven already! 

Basement Progress

 JD and I spent an afternoon and evening cleaning and organizing the basement open areas. This is the back room "future game room" that is still the construction zone of the house, but at least it's more organized and the air hockey table is available again. 

This is the big closet that is in the back of the room. It was full, but now I have an empty shelf. 

Of course, organizing usually makes a bigger mess to start with. Here was the pool table area while we were working. 

 Thankfully, here it is now - Eventually, the pool table will move to the game room and this will be a seating area around the wood burning stove. 

Here's the Lazy Boy sectional we bought on Craigslist; we are really thrilled with it. 

My plan to keep one of the couches in the room isn't going to work because it's blocking the future door. Eventually I will trade it for  a love seat or chair so we can maximize seating. Hard to believe, but we really don't all fit on the sectional!

Moving On

Since JD was out of town, I spent last night thoroughly cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. I also got rid of the items I don't really use to make room for the new items that were sitting on the counter homeless. While there are other areas of the house that were in worse shape, the kitchen is our center gathering place and it's so nice to open tidy cabinets instead of things falling out when you open them. 

                (half eaten apple courtesy of Elijah - he put it there to "save" it.)

I am amazed by those people that have completely clear kitchen counters; I think that would be so nice since I wipe them down at least three times a day. I really tried to not keep anything out that wasn't used several times a day and there is still plenty sitting out. I need to embrace the "lived in" look that describes our home so well. 

Stuff and Things

The kids in our area are off school today for Martin Luther King Day, but I decided we needed to work to make up for the unplanned days I was away from home last week. I have felt fine since my ER trip, but I have a dozy of a bruise on my arm from the nurse attempting to put an IV in. It's rather shocking that she graduated from nursing school with her technique that resulted in no IV, a huge bruise and blood all over the floor. She told me that occasionally her rooms look like an ax murder scene! I didn't complain though, because she brought me a sandwich in the afternoon after I hadn't eaten all day. 


JD and I attended his work Holiday party this last weekend; it's really nice that they always do it after the Christmas party rush. We stopped for a quick photo and Elijah ran in to show off his tie. 

We also had a family over last night that wanted to discuss adoption options. That is literally one of our favorite things to do and the kids had a great time playing. 


So, I'm planning a nice boring (not that I'm sure that word ever accurately describes our life) week that is caring for the kids, doing Julia's hair  - 

Schooling - 

And playing - 

I'm also anxious to start my de-cluttering and organizing effort. I am going start working in the kitchen tonight but am really anxious to get downstairs in the unfinished family room. We bought a big leather sectional on Craiglslist yesterday so it'll be fun to make some progress in that room.