So I've noticed I am only blogging about once monthly. Which is fine because when I blogged daily, I tended to complain more!And no one wants to hear me whine, trust me! So here is the month step by step in a nutshell.
On the adoption front, we should be submitting our dossier this week! I am so excited and so ready to start the real waiting process! All we are waiting for is a reference letter! Though over the last month we hit some bumps. We did our USCIS appointment but then we missed a copy of a paper to send, so that held it up. So after three weeks of sending that in we still had not heard anything. I tried calling but I called the wrong number for USCIS. There are two different numbers to call and when I called the wrong one the man I spoke with was rude and did not give me any answers! When I said adoption someone could have just said oh you need to call this number instead of making me wait thirty minutes to talk to someone higher up and have them be rude. So I called a few days later and called the correct number, spoke with someone and within ten minutes knew we should be getting our approval letter any day. We received it a few days later. So on top of that we have been saving our money for our adoption but also have our grant through church. I am so thankful for our grant and for those who have donated already. We have not been able to raise the $2500 that we need though, which has been a disappointment because we were planning to use that to pay for our dossier. However, God has provided the funds through our tax return, we just will not be able to pay off my car and go to one car payment again. I trust that God will provide and I know He will! And another disappointment is that our wait has now increased to 24-30 months. However, I was praying on my way to work one morning about Addie and got a vision of a one year old, with some teeth in, a head full of curly hair, looking up at me. And then I was praying about the referral and when it may happen and such and December popped in my head. I asked God if that meant we would know who she is then and I am pretty sure it was a yes, and I know He said "Trust me". So we will see. I know God can heal, move mountains, and do whatever He likes, so if it's His will it will be done!
On the Belle front, she turns three on the 30th!! I cannot believe it! I love her so much and even though her screaming and hitting will get on my nerves and push the right buttons on me, she is such a joy and so sweet! Tonight I said something about Ethiopia and she repeated the country then said "I share my toys and my room with Ethiopia" which she meant Adeline, but she knows Addie is in Ethiopia so that is how she processed it! How cute!! And on Sunday she told me I was her best friend! Other things with her, she has been sick. Coughing, red inflamed throat and a yucky nose. She was on antibiotics for two weeks and is on a different one now. The doctor thinks she may have allergies so I have her on meds for that now too. I feel so bad! She has not been well since the end of January! So we are trying! And trying to get her well for her birthday! She acts normal though other than wiping her nose and coughing a bit. Her throat doesn't seem to bother her at all.
On the home front, we have issues again. We were trying to look into replacing our insulation under our house since it is either missing, hanging down, or not enough. Well the estimate was doable, tight but okay. Then the crawl space flooded again, the contractor (thankfully an honest one) said he wouldn't do the work until the flooding issue was taken care of. The estimate for that was NOT doable. So Paul said he would do the work himself making a french drain in the crawl space. This is a system that drains the water to a sump pump to put it in simple terms. Well when he started to dig the crawl space he could only dig about 6 inches and he was at the footer! Now you cannot go below the footer. So instead he is doing the french drain on the outside of the crawl space around the house and attempting to regrade. So I have a trench through my front yard right now! And he plans to do all of this himself over time. I am so thankful though that he is smart and handy to know how to do this kind of stuff!
I think this is about it. Other than party planning, dossier,working extra, I am getting things sorted for the consignment and been working on stuff. My newest thing is making my own lotion! I am so proud that I did this and I love it! It is all natural without chemicals, and more like a body butter but so good for my skin! Anyway, I think that is it, so I will try to blog again sooner, but we will see! Life gets busy!
