Saturday and Adoption Update

We are on our fourth weekend that JD has worked seven days a week. He is re-competing his contract and it has been the most demanding that his job has ever been. It's not been real pleasant for me either, as I don't feel like I ever get a break. Beyond just missing him, part of the challenge is that he isn't able to do the jobs he normally does, like take the garbage to the dump or mow the grass. Today the garbage is overflowing again, but it is going to require the big trailer to go to the far dump and right now, that is still out of my league. (Last dump run, I paid a friend's son to take it.)

Mowing isn't entirely out of my league, however, so this morning I decided that the kids and I would mow the grass, (it's a huge stretch to even call it grass - it is clover, weeds and dirt patches.) JD has just let Ben start cutting this year, but I took it upon myself to also train James and Alyssa and we have been rotating for the last four hours. The around the house mowing is going to have to take place tonight, once JD gets home and starts the stupid push mower that none of us have been able to start. 

More than just garbage and mowing, this work month has been hard on all of us. My kids with challenges always have more challenges when their Dad is gone too much and their mother loses patience day after day with little or no breaks. 

There are still wonderful moments that make me love life, like watching Elijah play "Days of Elijah" along with the guitarist on YouTube.

And today when I came in a moment before Julia and Elijah and glanced out the window, she was carrying Elijah because he didn't have shoes and was complaining that the rocks hurt his feet. She didn't have shoes either, but she carried him across the driveway and all the way around the parking area without a complain. Moments like that make up for so many fights between them!

We have an exciting adoption update! I received news that one of the medical tests that the Embassy requires came back inconclusive and they have to re-run the test and send it to Kenya for analysis. The second test is going to take an additional 25 days, so I wrote the Embassy and asked if they would allow the girls cases to begin processing while we wait for the test. They agreed, so our agency can turn our cases into the Embassy. That should hopefully mean that the girls will be able to travel in three to four weeks. We are probably looking at the first week of October to bring them home.