Joel’s at work, and now that Eli’s not eating Desta’s chapstick the kids all seem to be playing quietly for a moment. I shall try to seize that moment….
Adoption:
Home study update, which should have been done long ago, is finally within reach. *pause to change a stinky diaper* All we need, I think, is Joel’s medical and to find out why the pediatrician didn’t say when the kids’ last tb tests were done (I was pretty sure they had them for the last adoption, both on our end and on the Ethiopian end.) *pause to explain to Charis why she and Eli can’t go outside to play by themselves*
Dossier has been coming together piece by piece. We haven’t felt rushed on it since it can’t go anywhere until the fees are paid. We’ve started getting a couple of donations (thank you to those who have sent them!), and the big yard sale is this Saturday.
Yard Sale: if anyone’s in the area and wants to come to the sale (the one where I’ll be selling a bunch of Ethiopian hand-made things), it’s actually taking place just west of Winchester. I figured it was in Round Hill since it’s being coordinated by the Round Hill Ruritans club, but apparently they have a building just off of Rt. 50 west of Winchester. Amusingly, it’s on Poorhouse Rd. (going west on 50 you’d turn left). I don’t know if the name is a bad omen or if it’ll draw more donations. 😉
Current Praises and Prayer Requests:
The van is a huge praise! *pause to stop Charis from playing with the screen door* The Lord led us to one that we could manage to get without a loan by trading in our minivan. Of course, it makes things rather tight for now because it took the rest of our savings as well as the trade-in, but that should be temporary and *pause to explain to Eli why he can’t go outside with just Charis* we won’t have any extra monthly payments to make which is just about priceless. Thank you, Lord!
Praise the Lord for His provision thus far! I haven’t always been able to figure out where the money came from, but we’ve had what we needed to cover bills as well as the extra things that have been required for the adoption so far (like the home study). It’s all the Lord’s blessing. I’m constantly amazed by how freely He’s been choosing to bless us.
*pause to let Eli know that, yes, I see his toy car* *pause to explain to Charis AGAIN why she can’t go outside without supervision* Praise the Lord for inexpensive used dressers! We were able to buy two for a good price, so now we should have space to put things for L and B. *pause to stop the screaming and give the toy back to Charis that Eli took* I was able within a couple of months to get a bunch of used clothes and have been putting them through the wash, so now I can fold them up and actually put them away. Btw, I found that if I put clothes through the washer two times with regular detergent, oxy-clean, and clorox 2 on “heavy soil” setting, it tends to get rid of the smoke smell. 😛 *pause to make Charis give Eli the glittery purse she said she’d give him so he’ll stop screaming* In case you’re wondering, we didn’t get both dressers for L and B. One is for them, the other will probably be in the nursery. Up till now all of the kids have shared two largish dressers *pause to zip up fuzzy purse and tell Alexis that she can’t take a large toy castle up to her room* which have served just fine during the warm weather months but which don’t hold everything in the winter. With two more children coming in, it seemed prudent to try for two more dressers. One is bigger than the other, so the bigger one will go in the room with the four children, and the smaller will go in the room with three.
Praise the Lord for the healing work He’s done in my grandmother! She’s still in ICU, but has been progressing well and I’m hoping she’ll be able to move to the step-down unit soon. She needs to get off the ventilator completely, I think, before they’ll move her. They take her off of it for a certain period of time each day to build up her lungs, but I think she’s still on it when she sleeps. She’s awake a lot of the time now, though, and is to the point of whispering to people (she can’t talk with the trach in), smiling, and even laughing at times! 🙂 *pause to put in a Psalty CD*
Please continue to pray for the funds to come in for our adoption. God is in control and it’s all in His timing, but the girls in Ethiopia get more and more discouraged as time goes on and they see all of their friends leaving and new people coming in… and them leaving, too. I know God can and will use this time for His purposes, but it’s hard to think of them over there waiting… and waiting… and waiting. I haven’t yet heard how sick L is, either. I’m going to try to get in touch with our case worker about it again today. I’m assuming that if she was terribly ill we would have heard, but it’s hard to tell with this process. There are so many communication breakdowns along the way.
Please pray for L and B. This waiting time is harder on them than it is on us. At least we have plenty to keep us busy.
Please pray for *pause to unsuccessfully hunt down and kill a bug for Eli* the sale on Saturday. Not only is it an opportunity to raise some funds and spread word of our need, it’s also a wonderful chance to share our testimony thus far. 🙂 Please pray that the Lord brings the people to the sale who can most be touched by our adoption story and that He would give me wisdom and discernment when talking with people.
Ok, now I really should go and do some more laundry. I think I’ll do a few smoke-free loads before starting another two-timer. Wow… as if we didn’t have a lot of laundry before! I guess I better get used to it, huh? 🙂